Last March To The Playoffs

On Thursday night, the Southern University Jaguars(10-7) faced off against the Prairie View A&M Panthers(9-8) in a important game that could move up Southern in the SWAC standings, to Alcorn State at the F.G. Clark Activity Center. The Jaguars were looking to get back on track and improve on their winning record in conference play.
The Jaguars got off to a rough start in the beginning of the game going scoreless in the first two minutes, but that wouldn’t last forever as Senior Guard Shawn Prudhomme netted a 3 to bring the jags to 3-5. As the game continued on in the first 7 minutes, neither side back down as the game turn into a see saw battle with both the Jaguars and Panthers trading buckets. With 11 minutes left in the 1st half, the Jaguars defensive efforts picked up and offensively started to get their rhythm taking a 24-18 lead over the Panthers. The Jaguars stayed very aggressive keeping there lead at halftime 40-37.
In the start of the second half, the Jags forced a lot of turnovers, but so did the panthers recovering the ball from two consecutive trips down the court in the first three minutes. Southern’s offensive efforts diminished around the 12:00 minute mark as the Panthers took the lead and never looked back. Prairie View ran away with the game as they defeated the Jags in a final score of 64-70 Panthers. The Jaguars shot 38% from the field on 52 attempts in the game while out rebounding Prairie View by 11 rebounds, and also recording 8 steals. This is Southern’s second consecutive loss bringing their record to (14-16) overall and (10-7) in conference play. However, for the Jags, the losing slump would continue.
In Saturday night’s game, the Southern University Jaguars(10-7) , looked to redeem themselves by upsetting the top seeded Texas Southern Tigers (16-2) in what was a must win game for the squad to break their 2 game losing streak. Winning would mean a lot to them heading into playoffs with a confidence booster filled with momentum.
The Jags opened up the game going scoreless in the first 2 minutes, having the Tigers take a dominating 0-7 lead to start of the first half. First points scored by Senior Guard Shawn Prudhomme at the 17-minute mark of the first half.
The Jags came out slow but stormed back going on a 10-0 through the 12 and 9-minute mark to wipe away their deficit, 19-20. Jaguars premiere defense was showed in this sequence, holding the Tigers to a scoring drought through 3 minutes. The Jaguars were on a roll as they continued to score, taking their first lead of the game with a bucket by Senior Guard JaMarcus Weatherspoon to put the Jags up 23-22.
The Jaguars were able to capitalize their spark of energy to lead at the end of the 1st half to overcome their slow start 39-37.
The beginning of the 2nd half turned into a totally different ball game for the Jaguars. There offensive gameplan stayed the same, but the defensive intensity slowed down. The Tigers drained 55% of their three’s to open the gap against the Jaguars. Getting to the free-throw line making 13-19 free throws late in the half. The Jaguars never regained the lead as Texas Southern managed to hold out Southern 69-82 in a lopsided ending game. In response to the game Head Coach Roman Banks replied, “If Texas Southern wasn’t a very good team, I thought that game could have gone a very different way,” said Southern coach Roman Banks. “We made some strides of getting better and that’s what I want to see. We played a pretty solid game, but they are a good team.”
The Jaguars managed to shoot 44% from the field, grabbing a total of 32 rebounds, and recording 11 assists for the game. The Jaguars dropped to 10-8 in conference play ending the regular season on a 3 game losing streak.
The Jaguars finish the regular season as 4th seed in the standings, looking to make a splash in their playoffs Tuesday, March 7, at 7:30 as they take on Jackson State University in the first round of the playoffs at the F.G. Clark Activity Center.