BATON ROUGE, La.— Behind a 16-point effort from senior Marcus Merriweather, the Alabama A&M men's basketball team fell short, 62-61, to Southern after the Jaguar's putback with 2.8 seconds left in regulation in SWAC action on Monday night. 

Julian Walters started the game off with a three-pointer and the Bulldogs' (2-18, 2-5 SWAC) momentum continued to build as they gained their biggest lead of eight over Southern,12-4,at the 13:12 mark of the opening on a layup from Mohamed Sherif.

The Jaguars  (8-13, 4-4 SWAC) clawed their way back from AAMU's eight-point deficit and answered with a 13-0 run to take a 17-13 lead. 

With 4:37 left to play in the opening frame, Southern took a nine point lead before Tracy Burnett shot two jumpers to bring AAMU within five. The Jaguars headed into the locker room with a eight point lead, 34-26.

Southern carried its late first half momentum into the second half and maintained its largest lead of 10 (46-36) at the 12:49 mark, but the Bulldogs answered with an 9-2 streak of their own to cut Southern's lead to three, 48-45.

Down by two with 1:47 left in regulation, Marcus Merriweather sank a three to put AAMU on top at 59-58. The two teams would trade baskets before Walters was fouled.

 Walters two free shots allowed the Bulldogs to regain a 61-60 lead. Down by one, Southern's Jamar Sandifer secured a game-winning putback with a mere 2.8 seconds left to give Southern 62-61 win. 

Merriweather led the Bulldogs with 16 points followed by Sherif who secured a double-double on the night after totaling 11 points and 14 rebounds for the Bulldogs. Evan Wiley added 12 points.

Southern was led by Jared Sam who had a game-high 17 points and added six rebounds and three assists. 

The Bulldogs will be back in action Saturday as the host the visiting Tigers of Texas Southern. The tip is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.