MONTGOMERY, Ala. –The Auburn Montgomery men's basketball team opened up their 2021 campaign on Saturday, Jan. 2 with an 89-76 setback to the no. 11 ranked Blazers of Valdosta State University from the AUM Gymnasium. 
 
The Warhawks start their season 0-1 with the loss, while Valdosta State improves to 2-0 on the season. 
 
Freshman Sam Youngblood shined bright for the Warhawks in his AUM debut, tallying a game-high 23 points on a 9-13 shooting performance to go along with knocking down four of eight three-pointers. Youngblood's point total marks for the most points scored in an AUM debut since Phillip Rankin's 24-point performance against Oakwood University on Oct. 30, 2015.
 
Newcomers Ryan Sanders, Roderick Smith, Miguel Williams, and Strahinja Ivic all also made their debut for the Orange and Black in Saturday evening's contest. Sanders accounted for nine points and five rebounds, while Smith notched six points and four boards. 
 
Maharrith Jackson added 14 points and a team-high six rebounds, while Stanley Davis eclipsed the double-digit total with 11 points.
 
Valdosta State opened up the contest with an 8-0 run over the game's first two minutes, but AUM would eventually work their way back over the next five minutes to trail just 16-15 at the 13:09 mark.
 
The first of the Warhawks' two leads in the game came at the 10:13 mark in the first on a fast-break layup by Jeremiah Bozeman to go up 21-20, while the next would come just minutes later on a Sanders jumper to give AUM a 23-22 advantage with 8:53 until halftime.
 
The Blazers would heat up from the floor, however, and knock down seven of their next 12 shots to take a 45-37 lead into the break. 
 
AUM opened up the second half of play with a quick 7-4 run to trail just 49-44 at the 16:23 mark, but the Blazers would counter over the next four minutes to up their lead to 11 at 59-48 with 12:20 left to play.
 
VSU took its largest lead of the game at the 3:04 mark, going up 81-66 after AUM had trimmed the deficit to just nine points at the 5:32 mark. The Warhawks closed out the game by outscoring the Blazers 10-8 over the final three minutes, giving way to the 89-76 final.
 
Free-throw shooting proved to be costly for AUM on the night, with the Warhawks shooting just 58 percent (20-34) from the charity stripe. The Blazers shot 76 percent (25-33) from the free-throw line, while shooting 50 percent (28-56) on all field goals and 40 percent (8-20) on threes.
 
The Warhawks additionally recorded 34 points in the paint and 38 bench points. 
 
The men's basketball team will face a quick turnaround, as they'll return to action on Sunday, Jan. 3 with a 2:00 p.m. rematch against the Blazers from the AUM Gymnasium. 
 
For the latest on AUM athletics, find us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.