MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Auburn Montgomery dropped a 62-57 decision to region rival Tuskegee University in men's basketball action on Monday evening at the AUM Gymnasium, as the Golden Tigers avenged an 80-71 road victory by the Warhawks earlier this season.
 
NOTES
• AUM falls to 4-5 on the season and 1-3 at home.
• TU improves to 3-4 and 2-3 in road games.
• This marks the second year in a row the two teams split the season series. Last season both teams won at home.
• The Warhawks have now lost three games in a row, all at home.
 
STANDOUT PERFORMERS
• Junior guard Darrion Taylor led all players with 17 points in the contest. Taylor also tallied four rebounds and three assists in 35 minutes of action.
• Junior guard Carlos Bell finished second on the team with 15 points, pulling down seven rebounds and tallying three assists, two blocks and two steals.
• Tuskegee's Daniel Roach tallied a team-high 16 points to go along with five rebounds and two assists.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
• The two teams traded buckets back and forth to start the contest, with Bell tying the game at 11-11 on a layup with 13:23 to go in the first. Roach would give TU the lead on the very next possession, hitting a layup of his own to put the Golden Tigers up by two.
• Tuskegee would go up by five at 18-13 three minutes later, only to have the Warhawks come back and tie the game at 18 points apiece on a Bell 3-pointer. The Golden Tigers would respond with a 5-0 run, taking a 23-18 lead with 7:49 to go in the first.
• Both teams went cold for the next three minutes until Tuskegee's Myles Thomas hit a trey with 4:50 remaining in the frame to put his team up 26-18. Points were hard to come by the rest of the for both teams, but AUM managed to outscore TU 5-2 over the final four minutes of the first to go into halftime trailing 28-23.
• The second half saw the Golden Tigers double up the Warhawks in scoring over the first eight minutes of the half, outscoring AUM 12-6 to take a 41-29 lead with 12:16 to go. A minute later Jordan Gaines gave Tuskegee their largest lead of the night, hitting a fast break layup with 11:13 to play to give his team a 43-29 advantage.
• AUM would slowly begin to claw its way back into the contest, going on a 15-4 run over the next six minutes to pull to within 47-44 on a Taylor trey from well behind the 3-point arc. Thomas would answer with a three for TU, pushing their advantage back to six at 50-44 only to have Taylor respond once again with a long-range 3-pointer to make it a one-possession game once again.
• Down 52-49 with 2:18 to go, Taylor hit his fifth 3-pointer of the contest to tie the game at 52-52. However, TU would double AUM's point output the rest of the way, finishing the contest on a 10-5 run to seal the victory.   
 
QUOTING THE COACH
"We didn't play AUM basketball tonight," said head coach Michael Cheaney. "We missed a lot of open layups and we turned the ball over too many times. We probably had 10 more possessions than they did and we didn't execute on any of them. It was good job of executing by Tuskegee, good defensive effort for them. Defensively we played hard but just couldn't get going on offense."
 
INSIDE THE BOXSCORE
• Tuskegee won the rebounding battle, 38-33.
• The Golden Tigers' bench outscored AUM's, 28-14.
• TU was 18-of-21 from the free throw line while the Warhawks were 10-of-16.
• AUM outscored 'Skegee 18-14 in the paint.
 
UP NEXT
The Warhawks will travel to Mobile, Ala., on Tuesday, Dec. 11 to take on Spring Hill College in a game set to begin at 7 p.m. on the campus of the Badgers. This game will also be a rematch from and earlier contest this season. The Warhawks bested SHC at home on Nov. 25, 72-58. The contest will also be AUM's final non-conference game of the season.
 
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