The sense of urgency that Winston-Salem State had during its eight-game winning streak was missing Saturday against St. Augustine's.
Playing in Emery Gym, which seats about 750 but held about 800, the Falcons took it right to the Rams, winning the CIAA game 61-55 and stopping the streak.
"A lot of things didn't go right," said point guard Marcus Wells, one of the many Rams who struggled. "I feel like we took a break. The same thing happened when we were on the floor; we took a break for some reason. We kind of got all caught up in our record and waiting for the second half to pull it out, but now it's about bouncing back."
The Rams (15-3, 1-1 Southern Division) had a season-high 24 turnovers, shot 32 percent and had little offensive flow against the Falcons (11-7, 1-1) and their zone defense. Leading scorer Justin Glover of the Rams had 14 points but made just 2 of 10 from the field, and Wells was 0 for 6 and in foul trouble most of the game.
With less than seven minutes left in a tight game, St. Aug's used the play of point guard David Brown and Joel Kindred to go up by six and never wavered down the stretch. Brown banked in a long jumper with the shot clock winding down, giving the Falcons a 55-50 lead with 1:40 left and taking the wind out of the Rams' sails.
Although Wells said he thought the Rams were complacent, coach Bobby Collins didn't like that word to describe the loss.
"That's a good team," Collins said of St. Aug's. "Coach (Ken) Spencer did a good job of getting his team ready to play the No. 1 team in the Southern Division. We are going to get everybody's best shot.
"I don't know if we were complacent or not. We were flat in some areas, but we didn't play smart. I've got to do a better job of putting us in situations where we can make good decisions.
"I definitely take a lot of blame for this loss because I didn't make the right adjustments."
Freshman WyKevin Bazemore (7 points, 9 rebounds) didn't like the feeling of losing for the first time since late December.
"It was a lack of defense and a lack of hustle," Bazemore said. "We didn't play as hard as we should have played or play as smart as we should have played. … I wouldn't say it was overconfidence, but we were missing something."
With nowhere to go inside, the Rams were forced to the perimeter but made just 6 of 21 from 3-point range. Kimani Hunt's 3 with 1:15 left cut the St. Aug's lead to 55-53, but Brown hit two free throws, and Tyrone Laughinghouse added a layup for a six-point lead with a minute left.
Spencer, a WSSU assistant for four seasons who is in his second season at St. Aug's, was thrilled with the win against one of his mentors, Collins, after two losses to WSSU last season.
"We didn't want to get into a run-and-gun game with them," Spencer said. "We wanted to keep the score low because that's how we approach it with our defense. Give my kids credit because they fought, and give Bobby's kids credit because they fought hard also, but this was just a typical CIAA game, and we came out on top."
The Rams sprinted to an eight-point lead in the first half, then went 10 minutes without a field goal and trailed by three at halftime. They had a little offensive spurt to start the second half but never found a flow.
"It was a little bit of a lack of fire," Bazemore said. "You know, it was a tough environment and a tough game, but it kind of got to us. A couple of calls didn't go our way, but that's how it is on the road."
WSSU will play at Johnson C. Smith on Monday in another pivotal divisional game.
"We are going to just have to regroup," Bazemore said. "We have no choice."
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