THURSDAY'S SCORES
@Alabama A&M 74,
Southeast Missouri 56
ALABAMA A&M 74, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 56
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. - Antonius Cleveland scored 16 points and Joel Angus III added 14 as Southeast Missouri (0-3) fell to Alabama A&M (2-0), 74-56, Thursday night at Elmore Gymnasium.
Southeast, which dropped its third-straight road game, was outscored 46-30 in the second half. The Redhawks turned the ball over 11 times in the game's final 20 minutes, as well.
The Redhawks trailed by only two points (28-26) after a low scoring first half that featured five ties and seven lead changes.
Neither team led by more than six points until halftime and Southeast managed to take a 24-20 lead on a layup by Angus with 2:18 left.
AAMU countered by scoring eight of the final 10 points of the first half to grab its 2-point edge.
The Redhawks sliced the Bulldogs lead to 32-28 on Marcus Wallace's layup with 17:40 remaining and that was as close as they would get.
Preseason Southwestern Athletic Conference Player of the Year Ladarius Tabb knocked down a 3-pointer to give AAMU its first double-digit lead at 45-35 at the 13:28 mark.
Moments after Christopher Thomas buried a 3-pointer to stretch the Bulldogs lead to 52-37, Southeast answered with a 12-3 run to get within six.
Angus ignited the run with a layup before Ladarius Coleman got a steal and made a pair of free throws. Cleveland then scored a layup and stole the ball on AAMU's ensuing possession. He threw down a dunk shortly after that to close the Bulldogs lead to 55-49 with 8:39 on the clock.
Down by eight with a little under seven minutes left, Southeast was outscored 15-5 the rest of the way. Adrian Edwards' dunk off an Arthur Wade pass gave the Bulldogs their biggest lead (74-54) before they finished off their second victory of the season.
Tabb scored a game-high 26 points and Thomas followed with 20 to lead AAMU, which shot 54.5 percent (18-of-33) from the field and 62.5 percent (5-of-8) from 3-point range in the second half.
Cleveland and Angus each posted their second-straight games with double figures. Cleveland made five field goals and six free throws, while Angus shot 50 percent (6-of-12) from the floor. Cleveland and Angus contributed eight and seven rebounds, respectively.
Coleman, who returned from a two-game suspension, had a game-high nine rebounds and scored nine points in 27 minutes off the bench. Trey Kellum also came back after serving a two-game suspension, pulling down five rebounds in 13 minutes.
Southeast outrebounded AAMU, 45-31, and held a +9 (16-7) advantage on the offensive glass. That, however, was overshadowed by a season-high 20 turnovers and another tough night at the free throw line (10-of-21, 47.6 pct.).