TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - Stillman College men's basketball dropped its first home Southern States Athletic Conference game of the season Tuesday night, falling to the University of Mobile, 70-64, in Birthright Alumni Hall.
Mobile led most of the game, except for a few brief leads by the Tigers in the first half. Stillman trailed 33-25 at the half, in a low-scoring first half that saw both teams held to around 40% shooting. Stillman shot 58.6% in the second half.
Stillman fought back from a 13-point hole, 51-38, with 11:26 to play in the game.
Jordan Bell hit a jumper, followed by a
Daviyon Dennis jumper and Bell dunk, fed by Dennis, to move the deficit back to single digits, 53-44. When Mobile answered, so did Bell, with another jumper to score six points in four possessions. The last jumper sparked a 6-0 Tiger run, capped by a Bell dunk, to make it a five-point game, 55-50, with 5:49 to play. Bell scored all eight of his points in a four-minute span, and added three rebounds, in his first Stillman home game.
Dennis and Brenden Lankford-Johnson each hit 3s to help cut it to a 3-point game, 59-56, with 3:32 left on the clock. The Tigers defense stood strong on the next possession, forcing a shot clock violation, and
Jalen Taylor made it a one-point game, 59-58, with under 3:00 to play.
As Mobile fought to keep its lead, Stillman answered again with a 3-pointer by
Khalil Johnson, 62-61, with 1:11 to play, but a pair of fouls led to four made free throws for Mobile, and were followed by two missed 3-pointers and a turnover for Stillman. PJ King made four free throws in the final 10 seconds to help ice the game for Mobile and counter a Dennis 3-pointer that made it 68-64 with 1.7 seconds remaining.
Lankford-Johnson led Stillman with 17 points, followed by Marcus Bates Jr's 12 points and Dennis' 11 points. Bates led all Tigers with six rebounds.
DaMariee Jones was Mobile's leader with 25 points and 11 rebounds. Corien Pooh Frazier added 12 points and Ezra McKenna scored 11 and had 10 rebounds.
Stillman (8-7, 4-3 SSAC) will travel to Middle Georgia State University this weekend for an 1 p.m. CDT game on Saturday, Jan. 7.
