MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The Auburn University at Montgomery Warhawks men's basketball team (1-1) finished the SIAC/GSC Crossover Challenge with a 73-58 loss to the Tuskegee University Golden Tigers (1-1) Saturday night at the AUM Athletics Complex.

Tuskegee took advantage of a slow offensive start by the Warhawks to build a double-digit halftime lead before AUM tried to rally in the second half. The Warhawks got as close as four points with 3:34 to go, but the Golden Tigers made a run of their own to put the game away and earn their first win of the season.

HOW IT HAPPENED
First Half
Tuskegee jumped on AUM early, scoring the first six points of the game before two free throws by Colby Williams with 16:41 to go in the half got the Warhawks on the board and trimmed the Golden Tigers' lead to 6-2.

However, AUM missed its first 15 shots from the field – including going 0-for-10 on 3-pointers – allowing Tuskegee to open up an 18-3 lead before Marius Canery drained a 3-pointer to get the Warhawks back to within 18-6 with 7:29 left in the opening half.

Back-to-back treys by Ti'Avian Scruggs and Max Ogbalet-Ndiaye made it 22-12 Tuskegee with 3:55 remaining in the period, but the Golden Tigers retook control and went into halftime with a 30-15 advantage.

For the half, AUM went 4-for-26 (15.4 percent) from the field, including 3-for-17 (17.6 percent) from 3-point range. Meanwhile, Tuskegee was 12-for-32 overall (37.5 percent) and 0-for-7 on 3-pointers. Kusamae Draper led the Golden Tigers with 20 points – including 14 of Tuskegee's first 16 points – while Canery paced the Warhawks with five points and two steals.

Second Half
AUM opened the second half with an 11-4 run over the first 3:13, closing to within 34-26 after a Canery 3-pointer with 16:47 to go. Less than a minute later, Scruggs made another trey to make it 36-29 Tuskegee with 15:44 still to go and force the Golden Tigers to call a timeout.

After the Tuskegee timeout, AUM kept coming, getting to within four at 44-40 on a 3-pointer by Jacob St. Clair with 11:24 left. Tuskegee extended its lead back out to nine, but the Warhawks made another run and a Canery 3-pointer cut the Golden Tigers' advantage to 51-46 with 7:37 remaining.

Tuskegee answered back to stretch its lead back out to 56-48 after a pair of free throws by R.J. Walker, but AUM narrowed the gap to four on two different occasions, the last time coming at 58-54 after a pair of free throws by Canery with 3:34 left.

However, the Golden Tigers finally were able to put AUM away, scoring 11 straight points – capped off by a Derrek Bolton III layup – to go up 69-54 with 1:16 remaining to hold on for the win.

NOTABLES
- AUM finished the game 19-for-52 from the field (36.5 percent), including 12-for-31 (38.7 percent) on 3-pointers. The Warhawks made 8 of their 16 free throws (50 percent) as well, but were outrebounded 45-28 and made 13 turnovers in the game.
- Canery led AUM with 22 points and three steals. Williams had a double-double with 12 points and 13 rebounds and Scruggs pitched in 11 points, four rebounds, and two assists for the Warhawks, who had three players foul out and two others finish with four fouls in the loss.
- Tuskegee was 23-for-54 (42.6 percent) overall and 2-for-13 (15.4 percent) on 3-point field goals. The Golden Tigers went 25-for-32 (78.1 percent) at the free-throw line and had eight turnovers in the game.
- Draper led the Golden Tigers with a game-high 30 points on 10-of-19 shooting (and 10-of-15 free throws). He also added six rebounds and two steals. Walker had 15 points, two steals, and two rebounds, and Khalil Genwright pitched in 11 points, five rebounds and two assists for the Golden Tigers, who had five players score six or more points.

UP NEXT
AUM has a quick turnaround, as the Warhawks play their first road game of the 2025-26 campaign Tuesday night at Shorter University in Rome, Ga. Tipoff at the Winthrop-King Centre will be at 6:30 p.m. CT.

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