GARLAND, Texas – Jourdan DeMuynck scored a career-high 37 points to lead Prairie View A&M to an 88-75 victory over Jackson State on Friday and earn a spot in the Southwestern Athletic Conference championship game.
DeMuynck was 13 of 23 from the field, and scored 26 of his points in the second half when the fourth-seeded Panthers (15-18) pulled away from a 34-33 halftime lead to win the semifinal game. They will play the winner of the Southern University-Alabama A&M semifinal for the SWAC title and the automatic NCAA tournament bid on Saturday.
Montrael Scott scored 20 points and Carl Blair had 12 points and 10 assists for Prairie View, which made its only NCAA tournament appearance in 1998.
Christian Williams led Jackson State (11-18) with 27 points. Jeff Stubbs, who made 4 of 7 3-point attempts, scored 16 points and Derrell Taylor scored 10 for the Tigers.
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