Jaden Toombs scored 18 points and grabbed nine rebounds, and all 11 SMU players who saw action scored at least three points in a 98-63 win over Prairie View A&M on Tuesday in Dallas.
The Mustangs (3-0) led by 16 at halftime before outscoring the Panthers (2-2) 12-0 over the first 7:40 of the second half to put the game away. The lead ballooned to 42 after Johan Munch’s jumper with 4:58 remaining.
Jermaine O’Neal Jr. added 14 points for SMU, while Jakob Szumert and Rowan Brumbaugh scored 11 each and Munch contributed 10 off the bench.
Prairie View’s Anthony Gause led all scorers with a career-high 26 points while playing all 40 minutes. He was the only Panther to score in double figures.
The Mustangs led 14-4 after a Szumert free throw at the 14:44 mark and 17-7 after Jacob Patrick canned a 3-pointer two minutes later. Prairie View was undaunted, however, cutting its deficit to five on three occasions. The third came on Elijah Mitchell’s driving layup with 10:43 left in the half, making it 21-16.
SMU rebuilt its advantage over the next four minutes and went up 34-23 on O’Neal’s turnaround jumper with 6:26 remaining before halftime. The Mustangs led by 18 after David Terrell Jr. made two free throws with 31 seconds left. After a jumper by Prairie View’s Micheal Eley, SMU took a 52-36 lead into the break.
Gause led all players with 18 points in the first half. Toombs paced SMU with 10 as the Mustangs shot 54.5 percent from the field, compared with 44.1 percent for Prairie View.
SMU roared out of the gate in the second half, extending its lead to 64-36 while holding the Panthers scoreless over the first 7:40. By the time Gause converted a three-point play at the 12:20 mark, Prairie View had missed its first 13 shots of the half and fallen behind 64-39.