Eagles turn up defense in second half to beat Rams, stop slide

A&M-Texarkana put together a total team effort Thursday highlighted by a lockdown defensive performance in the second half of a 70-62 win over Huston-Tillotson at the Patterson Center, putting an end to the Eagles' five-game losing streak.

A total of six players scored at least eight points for the Eagles (6-14 overall, 4-10 RRAC) and four reached double figures. Ajani Jamison had 12 points, Justin Davis had 11 points to go with six assists and Justin Brown added 11 points and four assists. Jeff Norment tossed in 10 points, Lavelle Zeigler had nine points and nine rebounds, and Dezmond Washington came off the bench to add eight points and four rebounds.

What was more impressive was the defensive effort late in the game. The Eagles trailed 41-35 at the break and allowed the Rams (6-14, 4-10) to shoot 57.1 percent before halftime. But they clamped down in the second half, allowing the Rams to score just 21 points after the break and shoot only 26.9 percent in the second half.

Jamison hit a triple and Norment made consecutive layups just after halftime to give the Eagles a 44-43 lead, but the Rams would go back in front by seven with 14 minutes to play. But here came the Eagles again, putting together a 10-2 run to regain the lead with 10:18 left in Washington's layup. The Eagles pushed their lead to eight with six minutes to go and held that until the final horn.

The Eagles committed just seven turnovers in the game and turned 10 HTU turnovers into 13 points. They also held a 22-11 advantage in bench scoring.