Box Score The AU men's basketball team suffered its first loss of the season on Tuesday night (Nov. 19), falling to Central State, 79-77 in Dayton, Ohio.
Both the Eagles and the Marauders are 1-1.
The Eagles trailed, 76-71 with 2:20 remaining in regulation. AU fought back to take a 77-76 lead on a layup by freshman Wendell Davis with 44 seconds remaining in the game.
The Marauders regained the lead, 78-77 on a dunk by Raheem Lemmons with 33 seconds left. With six seconds showing on the clock, LeDonte Body was fouled and made one of two free throws for a 79-77 CSU lead.
Davis was fouled by Body with one second left in regulation. Davis missed the first free throw and intentionally misfired on his second attempt, hoping AU could get the rebound and get off a shot to tie the game. That strategy failed when the Eagles couldn't control the rebound.
Forward Will Evans led the Eagles with 16 points. Evans had a career-high 28 points last week in the opener against Oberlin.
DaWuan Thomas had 15 points, 13 in the first half. Brook Turson had 14 points and a team-high nine rebounds and Davis had 16 points off the bench. Davis had 12 points in the second half.
Body had 21 points to pace the Marauders. Lemons scored 12 points.
Central State led at halftime, 43-40.
Both teams spent a good portion of the evening at the free throw line. The Eagles were 26-of-33 (78.8) and Central State was 25-of-40 (62.5 percent).
AU will play Seton Hill next Tuesday (Nov. 26, 7:30 p.m.) at Kates Gymnasium.
AU
MBB/ALK
