Prairie View A&M’s seniors did not sit for a single second, and they have a bit of history to show for it. Dontae Horne, Cory Wells, and Lance Williams each went the full 40 minutes as the Panthers muscled past Lehigh 67-55 in the First Four at UD Arena in Dayton. The victory, the Texas HBCU’s first NCAA Tournament win in three appearances, capped an eight-game streak that started with a SWAC title and now sends Prairie View into the South region’s first round with momentum and a nationally televised stage.
“This is for all young people. Anything is possible with hard work and perseverance and having some thick skin, things can happen,” coach Byron Smith said after the game, according to the Houston Chronicle. The Chronicle notes the Panthers came into Dayton as slight underdogs, then leaned on senior leadership and a suffocating defense to flip the script on Lehigh.
Per the box score at ESPN, Horne led Prairie View with 25 points and seven rebounds, while Wells piled up 19 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks. Williams added 10 points and four rebounds and, like his backcourt mates, stayed on the floor the entire night. The Panthers shot 47 percent from the field and forced 16 turnovers, a combination that let them dictate the tempo against the Mountain Hawks and walk out with a comfortable margin.
Endurance and momentum
Those three seniors did more than fill up the minutes column. Their steady presence has carried Prairie View through the end of the SWAC tournament and straight into the NCAA field, where the Houston Chronicle notes this marks the program’s first March Madness win. For a small-school roster built around veteran guards, and one that entered as a +3.5 underdog, the result landed with some extra swagger.
What’s next
Next stop is Tampa, where Prairie View will face the South region’s No. 1 seed, the Florida Gators, in the first round on Friday. The matchup is listed for 8:25 p.m. CT on TNT, according to ESPN. The turnaround is quick, and the odds will be long, but the Panthers are heading in with the bump that comes from a program-first NCAA Tournament win.
Back in Prairie View and across PVAMU’s alumni base in Houston, the result is already echoing through group chats and campus hallways for a program that often flies under the radar. For Smith and his seniors, this moment doubles as payoff and recruiting pitch, proof, as the coach put it, that old program narratives can be rewritten with steady minutes and grit. Prairie View returns to the national stage Friday night with the same formula that got it here: experience, toughness and the rare sight of three players refusing to leave the floor when it mattered most.
