title image via Alabama A&M Basketball
Courtesy of Brian Howard, Assistant AD for Communications
The Alabama A&M University men’s basketball team returned home for the first time this month and had four players post double figures in scoring, but it wasn’t enough to overcome a big first-half deficit in a 97-90 loss to Samford on Saturday inside the AAMU Event Center.
Alabama A&M (4-7) trailed by as many as 15 points in the first half and got as close as five points with less than a minute to play but could not rally as Samford held on for the road win.
AC Bryant finished with a career-high 22 points, including four 3-pointers, four rebounds, one steal, one assist and one blocked shot to pace Alabama A&M. Bilal Abdur-Rahman added career-highs of points (21) and assists (10), along with two rebounds, while Lorenzo Downey and Quincy McGriff each chipped in 13 points.
Trey Fort scored 20 of his game-high 27 points in the first half, along with five rebounds and one steal. Collin Holloway added 16 points, while Julian Brown and Rylan Jones tossed in 14 and 13 points, respectively, Jaden Brownwell added 10 points.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Samford broke open a close game with a 13-0 run, capped by a Fort triple, in taking a 32-19 lead with 9:28 remaining in the opening half.
Free throws continued to extend SU’s lead as Julian Brown sank a pair in stretching the margin to 37-21 with 5:43 left.
A Warren Yeh 3-pointer snapped a more than seven-minute stretch without a field goal as Alabama A&M closed the gap to 39-26 with just over five minutes to play.
A trey by Abdur-Rahman, followed by a pair of free throws, cut the deficit to 47-36 with 2:36 remaining.
Quincy McGriff drained a trey and completed a three-point play as AAMU closed the gap to 52-44 with just over one minute to play in the half.
AAMU got a dunk by Moodie right before the break as Alabama A&M trimmed the margin to 55-46.
Alabama A&M got buckets by McGriff and Bryant in closing the deficit to 55-50 with 17:34 remaining.
Samford responded with a 9-2 run over the next four minutes, capped by a 3-pointer by Brown and a jumper by Fort, to extend the advantage to 64-52 with 13:46 left.
Alabama A&M continued to battle back and closed the deficit to 76-71 after a Bryant 3-pointer with 7:28 remaining.
Samford led 89-78 with 2:28 remaining, but back came Alabama A&M on the heels of seven points from Rahman and a 3-pointer by Downey, cutting the deficit to 91-86 with just under a minute to play.
GAME NOTES
- Alabama A&M shot 48.3 percent (29-of-60) from the floor and 63.3 percent (19-of-30) from the free-throw line
- AAMU grabbed 28 rebounds, with 19 coming off the defensive glass
- AC Bryant finished with a career-high 22 points, including four 3-pointers, four rebounds, one steal, one assist and one blocked shot
- Bilal Abdur-Rahman added career-highs of points (21) and assists (10), along with two rebounds
- Lorenzo Downey and Quincy McGriff each chipped in 13 points
- Alabama A&M finished with 41 bench points, 28 points in the paint, 17 fastbreak points, 13 points off 18 Samford turnovers and eight second-chance points
- Samford went 32-of-55 (58.2 percent) from the field and 19-of-27 (70.4 percent) from the charity stripe
- Samford grabbed 32 rebounds, including 24 off the defensive glass
- Trey Fort scored 20 of his game-high 27 points in the first half, along with five rebounds and one steal
- Collin Holloway added 16 points
- Julian Brown and Rylan Jones tossed in 14 and 13 points, respectively
- Jaden Brownwell added 10 points
- Samford finished with 34 points in the paint, 29 bench points, 22 points off 16 AAMU turnovers, 14 fastbreak points and 13 second-chance points
UP NEXT
Alabama A&M closes out the 2024 portion of its schedule next Saturday (Dec. 28) as the Bulldogs visit Georgia Tech. Tip-off against the Yellow Jackets is set for 1 p.m. (CT) from McCamish Pavilion and streamed on the ACC Network.
