DAYTON, OHIO — Inside a packed University of Dayton Arena, the No. 16 Lehigh men’s basketball team took the floor against No. 16 Prairie View A&M University in the First Four, where the win-or-go-home stakes defined the opening round of the NCAA March Madness tournament.
Prairie View A&M (18-17, 9-9 SWAC) defeated Lehigh (18-17, 11-7 Patriot League) 67-55, ending the Mountain Hawks’ season in their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2012.
Sophomore forward and center Hank Alvey led Lehigh with a double-double, recording 23 points, 15 rebounds and three assists. First-year guard Andrew Urosevic and sophomore forward Edouard Benoit each added eight points.
Prairie View A&M senior guard Dontae Horne led all scorers with 25 points and seven rebounds, while graduate forward Cory Wells added a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds.
The Panthers capitalized early, opening the game on a 5-0 run before Alvey responded with a layup two minutes into the half.
Lehigh struggled to find consistency from beyond the arc early, as Benoit missed three consecutive 3-point attempts midway through the first half.
Turnovers proved to be a factor on both sides, with Lehigh forcing seven while Prairie View A&M capitalized on six of its own.
The Mountain Hawks led 29-27 at halftime.
Prairie View A&M opened the second half with a jumper in the paint by graduate student guard Lance Williams before Wells added a pair of free throws and a driving layup to give the Panthers a 33-30 lead.
Junior guard and captain Nasir Whitlock scored his first points of the night with a 3-point jumper with 13 minutes remaining, briefly cutting into the deficit.
Alvey continued to drive Lehigh’s offense, scoring six quick points to keep the Mountain Hawks within reach, but Prairie View A&M’s physicality and defensive pressure began to take control.
“That was our main focus, to get inside,” Alvey said. “We just didn’t execute the way we needed to and didn’t knock down shots.”
The Panthers went on a 14-2 run over six minutes, extending their lead to 51-41 and forcing Lehigh to play from behind for the remainder of the game.
Junior guard Joshua Ingram attempted to create momentum for the Mountain Hawks with a 3-pointer, but Prairie View A&M answered immediately with a stepback jumper from Williams and a layup from Horne off a turnover.
Whitlock drove to the rim for a layup midway through the half, but Horne responded again on the other end, maintaining Prairie View A&M’s double-digit lead at 57-46.
“We didn’t get the stops we needed,” Whitlock said. “When we couldn’t score, we needed our defense to step up, and we just didn’t do that.”
Alvey converted two layups to keep Lehigh within distance, but junior forward Hassane Diallo scored six consecutive points on two layups and a pair of free throws, pushing the Panthers’ lead to 64-51 and effectively sealing the game.
Lehigh finished the night shooting 20-for-55 from the field and 6-for-23 from 3-point range, while Prairie View A&M shot 27-for-57 from the field.
Coach Brett Reed credited Prairie View A&M’s versatility for disrupting Lehigh’s offensive rhythm.
“The way Prairie View (A&M) played us with their athleticism in all five positions, they were just able to switch on the ball,” Reed said. “We couldn’t get a lot of dominoes to fall where we had match up advantages and we didn’t shoot the ball as well as we needed to.”
Despite the loss, Reed emphasized that the result doesn’t overshadow the team’s accomplishments this season.
The matchup marked the Mountain Hawks’ sixth overall appearance in the NCAA Tournament and third under Reed.
Prairie View A&M will face No. 1 Florida in the first round Friday night in Tampa, Florida, streaming on TNT.
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