Prairie View Earns Berth

You can laugh at Prairie View A&M;’s football team all you want, but the men’s basketball team is going to the NCAA tournament.

Prairie View, whose football team hasn’t won a game since 1989, earned its first trip to the NCAA basketball tournament Saturday night by beating Texas Southern, 59-57, in the finals of the Southwestern Athletic Conference tournament.

Kevin Bell’s jump shot with 57 seconds left capped a 20-point rally.

Seventh-seeded Prairie View (13-16) overcame a 41-21 halftime deficit. The Panthers began chipping away when the second half opened, holding top-seeded Texas Southern (15-16) scoreless for the first seven minutes.

“Let this be a notice that this university is turning the corner as far as athletics goes,” Prairie View Athletic Director Clifton Gilliard said.

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Antawn Jamison, who scored 15 points in No. 4 North Carolina’s 83-73 overtime victory against No. 21 Maryland in an Atlantic Coast Conference semifinal game, is listed as questionable for today’s title game against Duke because of a groin injury.

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The status of Kansas guard Billy Thomas for today’s Big 12 championship game against Oklahoma is in doubt.

Thomas, the Jayhawks’ best outside shooting threat, sat out his second game in row Saturday in Kansas’ 91-59 semifinal victory against Nebraska. Thomas has a leg injury.