MONTGOMERY, Ala. - The University of West Alabama men's basketball team was defeated by Auburn University at Montgomery 69-58 inside the AUM Athletic Complex on Wednesday night.
The Tigers started hot out of the gate as CJ Melton scored the first two buckets for the visitors off a pair of layups to give West Alabama the early 4-2 advantage inside the first three minutes.
Auburn Montgomery answered with back-to-back three-pointers to tie up the contest at 10 inside 15 minutes to go in the first stanza.
Jaylen Lemons and Kuran Garner responded with a pair of triples to give the good guys a two-possession lead. The spark from Lemons and Garner lit the fire of a 12-0 run for West Alabama going into the second media timeout.
The run swelled to 15-0 before Jalil Robinson interrupted with a three to cut the deficit to 24-13 with 10:28 left.
Lemons got the Tigers back on the board with a pair of free throws, and Williams stretched the lead back to 16 with a smooth layup and adding a free throw for the 3-point play.
Auburn Montgomery closed out the half on a hot streak going on an 11-2 run to close out the half to pull the Warhawks within ten at the break. Lemons broke a four-minute scoring drought at the buzzer to get West Alabama's lead back to double figures.
AUM came out of the break firing on all cylinders as Malachi Rhodes and Travis Anderson cut the deficit to 39-33 with 16:26 to go in the contest.
Sam Youngblood and the Warhawks would not back down as the home team cut the Tigers' lead to three off a Rhodes assist with less than 15 to go.
CJ Melton extinguished a trading of blows to pull the Tigers above water offensively and give UWA a six-point lead with 11:05 to go.
Malachi Rhodes pulled AUM ahead with two hits from the charity stripe to make it 49-48 with nine minutes to go.
Lemons gave the Tigers life with a triple to pull ahead by one but was answered quickly by a Jalen Gaston Layup to give AUM a slim lead back.
The Warhawks held a death grip on all momentum within 10 minutes to go, outscoring the Tigers 17-6 in the last seven minutes of play to put the nail in the coffin for the Tigers in a rough second-half showing.
Jaylen Lemons led West Alabama in scoring with 16 points on 5-for-10 shooting. Thaddeus Williams added 13 points and seven boards.
Malachi Rhodes led the victors from Montgomery with 18 points and seven boards.
UWA fell to 12-6 and 9-5 in conference play, while AUM moved to 7-10 and 4-9.
The Tigers will travel back home to Livingston on Saturday to take on Alabama Huntsville. Tipoff is set for 4 p.m. inside Pruitt Hall.
