Winston-Salem State, ranked 25th in Division II, lost its second consecutive basketball game in Tampa, Fla., on Friday afternoon, falling to Tampa 64-61.
The Rams (7-2) trailed by one and had the ball with 19 seconds left, but a turnover by Lamar Monger when he stepped out of bounds with three seconds left cost them. After the turnover, WyKevin Bazemore was forced to foul Ashton Graham of the Spartans. Graham hit both free throws to secure the win.
The Rams battled back from an 11-point deficit but couldn't close it and wound up going 0 for 2 in the Tampa Classic — with the added bonus of an 11-hour bus ride back to Winston-Salem.
Coach Bobby Collins of the Rams was encouraged by the way his team played compared to Thursday's 75-51 blowout loss to Eckerd.
"I thought we played better," Collins said by telephone after the game. "We just need to get some inside consistency. . . . We were in position to win and just didn't make the plays that we needed to make."
Callum Townsend had 19 points, four rebounds and four assists for Tampa (4-7). Osby Kelly added 14 points, and Graham had 12 points, five rebounds and three assists.
Bouncing back from his previous game, guard Justin Glover had 17 points to lead the Rams. Monger added 14 points, five rebounds and four assists. Also helping the Rams were Kimani Hunt with seven points, and Marcus Wells with six points, three rebounds and four assists.
Glover, who was just 1 of 9 from the field in Thursday's loss to Eckerd, was 7 of 13 from the field Friday and 3 of 6 on 3-point attempts.
Collins said Glover, who didn't start, made a big impact in the second half.
"We were down nine, I think, and Justin got going a little bit and helped get us back in the game," Collins said. "So he gave us some great effort there when we needed it most."
The Spartans took a 62-59 lead with 30 seconds left when Kelly hit two free throws, but the Rams came right back when Monger grabbed an offensive rebound after a Glover miss and scored to cut it to 62-61 with 25 seconds left.
The Rams caught a break when Graham missed a free throw with 19 seconds left and the Rams got the rebound still down by one. But Monger then made the Rams' 16th turnover of the game with three seconds left.
"We ran a play and Lamar got the ball on the baseline — but it looked like his guy pushed him out of bounds, but they didn't call it," Collins said. "That's how it goes sometimes."
The Rams will have to try to regroup for their CIAA opener Jan. 5 at the Gaines Center against Virginia Union.
"I told the guys I wanted them to remember this heartbreaking loss because this game is going to be exactly like most of our conference games," Collins said. "We will be into full CIAA mode next week, so we'll have to be ready."
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