As expected, the Bears (8-3) had an easy 85-53 victory on Saturday over the visiting Prairie View A&M Panthers (5-7), who remain winless on the road. Allen Crabbe bounced back from a few subpar scoring/shooting games to lead all players with 23 points on 8 for 11 shooting from the field, including 3 of 4 from 3's. Crabbe showcased his offensive skills in a variety of ways, making his usual long distance jumpers while also displaying his rim-attacking ability with a few aggressive and athletic drives for layups. Most importantly, Crabbe and Justin Cobbs were able to overwhelm the PVAMU guards into many turnovers. Both Crabbe and Cobbs finished the game with 3 steals apiece. A chart of the game flow is below:
PVAMU actually had a small early lead by making 3 of their first 4 attempts from the 3 point range. The Bears quickly overcame the early deficit by forcing some turnovers (though both teams ended up with 18 turnovers each) and dominating the boards at both end (Bears outrebounded the Panthers by an impressive 40 to 21 margin). Richard Solomon was the star of the game, finishing with a career best 18 points to go with 9 boards. Solomon, whose dunk was the first points of the game, got basically all the touches that Robert Thurman had gotten in the past few games. Solomon was also there for the putbacks as he tallied 6 offensive boards for the game (the entire PVAMU team only had 9). Justin Cobbs finished with 14 points.
With the most of the second half been basically garbage time, the 4th highest scoring Bears was actually Jeff Powers with 9 points. All in all, 11 different Bears scored in this one. In his second career start, Tyrone Wallace contributed 5 assists, but shot only 1 for 7.
For Prairie View, the senior-laden squad was once again held in check on the road. Bay Area native Jourdan DeMuynck led the Panthers with 11 points but on 4 of 12 shooting.
Post Game Interviews:
More charts: Illustrating Bears' dominance across the board.
The Bears will next host the Harvard Crimson (who are not as good this year as their 2011-12 campaign that saw them ranked in the top 25 and advanced to the NCAA 2nd round) next Saturday at 5 PM PT.
GO BEARS!