Garrison Johnson scored 11 points and Jackson State held Prairie View A&M without a field goal in the final 3 minutes to win 53-52 Saturday night in a battle of unbeaten Southwestern Athletic Conference teams.
Rod Melvin added 10 for the Tigers (6-10, 4-0), who take sole possession of first place in the league. Jackson State won its sixth straight after opening the season 0-10.
The Tigers, who led 30-25 at halftime, built a 48-37 lead with 7:53 left. The Panthers (8-7, 3-1) then used a 13-3 run, capped by a Tim Meadows 3-pointer and a layup by Christopher Jones to cut the deficit to 51-50 with 3:08 left. After a Johnson layup made it 53-50, Darnell Hugee made the second of two free throw attempts with 2:19 to go. One of two free throws by Jones with 55 seconds left completed the scoring.
Michael Griffin led Prairie View with 14 points and Dorian McDaniel added 13.
