Prairie View beats Alabama A&M 55-49

Published Mar. 15, 2014 1:11 a.m. ET

foxsports

HOUSTON (AP) Tre Hagood scored 13 points Thursday night and Prairie View A&M beat Alabama A&M 55-49 to advance to the Southwestern Athletic Conference tournament finals.

The eight-seeded Panthers (12-22) will face second-seeded Texas Southern in Saturday's finals, after Texas Southern beat Alabama State 73-61 to advance.

Montrael Scott and Demondre Chapman each scored 10 for Prairie View, who shot just 34.6 percent to the colder-shooting Bulldogs' 30.2 percent.

Alabama A&M led early, but Prairie View took a 14-12 lead on free throws by Hagood, then pulled ahead 29-18 after a 9-2 run capped by a layup by Hershey Robinson and led 33-22 at halftime.

The Bulldogs (14-17) put together runs of 8-2 and 6-2 in the second half to pull within four points, but got no closer. Prairie View out-rebounded Alabama A&M 45-35.

Jeremy Crutcher led the Bulldogs with 13 points, and Brandon Ellis added 11.