COLUMBIA, S.C. - Box Score / The Alabama A&M men’s basketball team dropped a 88-50 decision to the Gamecocks of South Carolina on Friday night. The Bulldogs were led by Evan Hilton’s 13 points on 6-of-15 shooting from the field. Casey Cantey and Bo Amusa finished with 12 and 10 points, respectively. Adam Young pulled down nine off the glass for the Bulldogs. A&M is back in action when it hosts Oakwood University at Elmore Gym on Monday Nov. 16 beginning at 7:30 p.m.

The Gamecocks started the game with a 14-0 run. A jumper by Casey Cantey at the 16:16 mark put the Bulldogs on the scoreboard for the first time. A&M went on a 6-2 run in the next two minutes to trim the lead to 16-8. South Carolina ripped off 10 unanswered points for a 30-10 cushion with just over 12 minutes remaining in the period. The Gamecocks took a 52-28 margin at the half, however.

The Bulldogs were 10-for-27 from the field for a 37 percent shooting clip. Amusa scored all of his 10 points in the first half on 3-of-6 shooting. Cantey chipped in with six points.

In the second half, a Mike Holmes’ basket pushed the South Carolina spread to 70-34 at the 15:12 mark. A&M was unable to slice into the deficit for the rest of the period. As a team, the Bulldogs were just 2-for-11 (18.2 percent) from three-point land and 8-of-25 (32 percent) from the charity stripe. The Gamecocks held a 43-36 edge on the glass over A&M.

For South Carolina, four players had double-digit performances with Devan Downey leading all scorers with 23 points. Dominique Archie finished with 15 points on 4-of-7 shooting.  Holmes and Sam Muldrow had 14 and 13 points, respectively.

A&M will host Oakwood on Mon. Nov. 16. The game is slated to start at 7 p.m.