HUNTSVILLE – Offensive woes plagued Alabama A&M men's basketball on Saturday evening as they dropped a 70-59 contest to Texas Southern in their return home to the Event Center for men's Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) action.

It was a tight battle to start, as Texas Southern took an early 4-0 lead before a response from the Bulldogs with a pair of free throws from EJ Williams (Cincinnati, Ohio) and a score from Garrett Hicks (Madison, Ala.) to tie the game at 4-4 just under two minutes into the contest.
 
A minute later, Dailin Smith (Colorado Springs, Co.) made a three to give Alabama A&M their first lead at 7-4, however Texas Southern regained the lead, holding A&M scoreless for nearly seven minutes as part of a 18-0 run as they went up 22-7 at the 10:48 mark.
 
The Bulldogs ended their scoring drought on the next possession on a score inside from Lorenzo Downey (Nova Scotia, Canada) that sparked a small run to get within ten points at 22-12.
 
The Tigers held on to their double-digit lead for the remainder of the half, finding themselves up 27-17 with six minutes to go, before heading into the locker rooms with a 32-21 advantage.
 
Hicks opened the second half with a long ball to pull A&M within eight on the first possession of the frame and was followed by another score in the paint from Downey to reduce the deficit to just 32-26 at with 19 minutes to play.
 
Both sides trades scores over the next few minutes before the Tigers went up nine at the 13-minute mark, however A&M fought back once again with scores from Cameron Tucker (Birmingham, Ala.), Olisa Blaise Akonobi (Abuja, Nigeria), and Omari Peek (Cincinnati, Ohio) to pull within a possession at 41-38.
 
From there, Texas Southern regained momentum with a run that proved to be crucial, this time scoring 14 unanswered to go up 55-38 with 5:32 remaining. Messiah Thompson (Atlanta, Ga.) ended the drought for A&M with a three-pointer on the next trip down, however the Bulldogs could not flip the momentum to complete the late comeback push as they fell 68-54.
 
Peek was the lone scorer to end in double figures for the Bulldogs, finishing with 11 points and three rebounds, followed by Hicks and Smith who both added nine points on the day. Meanwhile, A&M finished the game shooting 39.0 (23-for-59) percent from the field, 27.8 (5-for-18) percent from deep, and 53.3 (8-for-15) percent from the free throw line for the contest.

Up Next
Alabama A&M will remain at home for their next matchup as they host Prairie View A&M on Monday, January 23. Tip-off has been set for 8 p.m. inside of the Event Center and will be streamed live on HBCUGo.
 
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