The player who had haunted the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff all game got the ball as the final seconds ticked off the clock Saturday night.
Prairie View A&M senior guard Dontae Horne had a big night, but his would-be game-winning shot hit off the rim as UAPB topped the Panthers 84-82 at H.O. Clemmons Arena.
With the game tied at 82, UAPB senior guard Quion Williams drove into the lane and put up a jumper with 18 seconds remaining to put the Golden Lions (12-16, 9-6 SWAC) up by two in a game which featured 12 ties and 12 lead changes.
Willliams said he found a shot he liked with the game on the line.
“I like getting to the right side,” Willliams said. “They tried to force me left, so I just took the easy up and over, and I shot it, and it went in. I would just say, what was going through my mind was just, put my team on my back, try to get the win. Just try to, like, take us home.”
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Prairie View A&M (11-17, 6-9) called a timeout with 10.0 seconds remaining to draw up a play for Horne, who led all scorers with 32 points. Graduate guard Lance Williams got the ball to Horne, who stepped away from a defender before firing off a three-pointer at the top of the key which would have won the game.
Instead, the shot bounced off the rim. Prairie View forward Corey Dunning reached up to grab the ball and lob it back toward the rim, but UAPB senior forward Jaquan Scott snatched it out of the air as the buzzer sounded.
UAPB Coach Solomon Bozeman said the defensive execution wasn’t great on the final play, but the Golden Lions still got the stop they needed.
“Q (Williams) and Quan (Scott) had talked about some things on that possession, and I thought they did a good job of figuring it out,” Bozeman said. “Q kind of gambled, but then Quan had his back. They both talked about just both staying with him and somebody else having to beat us. He still got a pretty decent look at it, but I thought Quan did a good of contesting, as well.”
Williams’s game-winning shot saw him finish with a team-high 20 points to go with five assists, four rebounds and four steals. Scott scored 18 points after shooting 6 of 6 from the field and 5 of 6 at the free throw line. He also collected a team-leading seven rebounds. Freshman guard Milhan Charles added 17 points and five rebounds.
Scott’s day got off to a rocky start after he picked up a technical foul 3:19 into the game. He checked out of the game with two fouls and didn’t play the rest of the first half. The technical was one of two major fouls against UAPB’s post players, with senior forward Dennis Asoro picking up a flagrant with 9:42 remaining in the half.
Scott returned to the court to start the second half and didn’t come out of the game again, even after picking up his fourth foul. He made critical plays down the stretch, including a game-tying two-handed dunk.
He said he is playing with a heavy heart right now due to a death in his family.
“I’m kind of frustrated right now, so I had to just think back, relax, and just calm down and play basketball,” Scott said. “Just play for my team and my family.”
Horne’s miss at the buzzer saw him finish the game having made 9 of 22 shots from the field. He did much of his damage at the free throw line, where he was 12 of 14.
As a team, Prairie View shot 25 of 28 at the line. Lance Williams, who finished with 18 points, shot 4 of 5 at the line, while senior guard Joey Madimba finished 7 of 7 with 16 points.
Horne has been Prairie View’s leading scorer in SWAC play with overall leading scorer Tai’Reon Joseph in and out of the lineup. Joseph did not play against UAPB in either matchup between these teams this season. Prairie View won 73-61 without him at home on Jan. 12.
This win ended UAPB’s three-game losing streak with three games remaining in the regular season.