MOBILE, Ala-- The University of Mobile men's basketball team saw a late rally fall short Monday, as the team fell to Southern University at New Orleans 50-54 in non-conference action at Pharr Gym.

Mobile (8-7, 1-1) will host Auburn-Montgomery Thursday, Jan. 20 at 7:30 pm in SSAC action. This was only Mobile's second home loss this season.

Donte Walker and Ji Kimbrough led Mobile with 19 points apiece, while nobody else on the team even cracked 5 points.

SUNO's Brent Leduff led all scorers with 22 points and clinched the game for the Knights with clutch play down the stretch.

The Knights were cruising through the first half of the final period, holding a 42-31 lead with 8:28 remaining, but the Rams answered with an 11-0 run over the next 3:25, highlighted by a stretch of seven-straight points from Walker. SUNO's Ricardo Porter answered with a 3-ball to give the Knights a 3-point lead, but Walker and Kimbrough went back-to-back to give Mobile its lone lead of the half at 46-45 with 3:47 left.

At the 3:11 mark, Craig Kemp tied it up with a free throw for SUNO and then the team took a 48-46 lead with 2:06 left. Kimbrough again rallied Mobile with a free throw and a 3-pointer to tie it at 50-50 with only 53 seconds to go, but Leduff answered with a bucket for the Knights and then picked up a steal on Mobile's next possession and sank the two free throws to seal the game.

The first half was a defensive struggle, as the Rams managed to shoot only 24% from the floor and entered the break trailing 26-20. The team was 0-for-8 from the 3-point line in the period, despite numerous open looks. The Rams actually held a 20-18 lead with 6:22 left in the half, but the team went scoreless the rest of the way and SUNO closed the half on an 8-0 run.