By Alan Wiederhold
HT Athletic Communications
AUSTIN – Huston-Tillotson University's men's basketball team was denied its first-ever HBCU Athletic Conference victory Thursday as Tougaloo College (Miss.) left Branch Gymnasium with an 81-69 victory Thursday.
Jaylen Streeter scored a game-high 21 points for the Rams, but it was not enough to overcome a quintet of Bulldogs scoring in double-figures that led the visitors to the win.
Cade Holzman scored 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting for the Rams, while
Caleb Campbell added 11 points for HT.
Tougaloo College (4-6, 2-1 HBCUAC) got 19 points from Tyler Hudson, who shot 7-of-8 from the field off the Bulldog bench. Willie Anderson scored 15 points off Tougaloo's bench, while Antonio Patterson also scored 15 points for the Bulldogs.
HT (4-5, 0-3) controlled the game early, but 15 unanswered Tougaloo points between the 11:14 and 6:31 marks of the first quarter changed the tone of the game and gave the visitors a 33-21 lead. The Rams trimmed Tougaloo's advantage to five points by halftime as the Bulldogs led 40-35 at the end of the first half.
The Rams would tie the game once in the second half as a pair of Streeter free throws knotted the score at 50-50 with 14:45 remaining in the game. The Bulldogs responded by scoring 10 of the next 12 points to reclaim a double-digit lead midway through the second half.
Later in the second half, the Rams would once again trim Tougaloo's lead to a single-possession, but the Bulldogs again responded by building their lead back to double-figures with less than a minute and a half remaining in the game.
NOTEWORTHY:
• The Rams committed only 13 turnovers (only one more than their season average), but that total exceeded their opponents for the first time this season, as Tougaloo gave the ball away 11 times.
• Tougaloo shot 61.5 percent from the floor (16 of 26) during the second half and 54.7 percent (29 of 53) for the game.
• Streeter went to the free throw line 15 times Thursday, making 11 of his attempts; his 15 free throws were the most by an HT player since
James Harrison went 12-of-16 from the line in the Rams' 65-62 loss at home to Oklahoma Panhandle State to open the 2023-24 season.
•
Eron Bogart scored a season-high six points for the Rams against Tougaloo. Bogart is averaging 4.7 points per game in HBCUAC conference play after scoring only two points in three non-conference games.
• The Rams shot 7-of-21 from 3-point range, giving them their second-highest 3-point percentage in game this season. However, the Rams have been outshot from the 3-point arc in eight of their nine contests thus far.
• Nine different players scored for the Rams against Tougaloo.
UP NEXT:
The Rams make their shortest road trip of the season Saturday when they head to west Austin to visit NCAA Division III Concordia Texas. While traffic in Austin can be unpredictable, even on a Saturday without a University of Texas home football game, the HT and Concordia campuses are less than 20 miles apart.
The Concordia men's basketball team is one of the strongest Division III teams in Texas and the NCAA's West Region. Tipoff between the Rams and Tornados is scheduled for 3 p.m. at the Concordia Fieldhouse.
