NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The American International College men's basketball team dropped a 72-60 decision at Southern Connecticut State University Saturday afternoon in a Northeast-10 contest.

The Owls improved to 11-12 overall and 9-10 in the Northeast-10, while the Yellow Jackets fell to 7-16 overall and 5-14 in conference play.

Freshman guard Tylon Smith (Manchester, Conn.) scored a game-high 24 points to lead SCSU, going a perfect 8-for-8 from the field with three threes and going 5-of-6 at the line. He also pulled down five rebounds with four assists and three steals. Junior forward Trevon Hamlet (Brooklyn, N.Y.) poured in 20 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the floor with three threes and was 3-of-4 at the stripe. He also had five boards and blocked four shots.

Sophomore guard Spencer Braithwaite (Dorchester, Mass.) scored 21 points to lead AIC, while fellow sophomore guard D.J. Gutridge (Neptune, N.J.) added 10 points off the bench.

The Owls shot 52 percent (26-50) from the field, 50 percent (9-18) from three and 78.6 percent (11-14) at the line, while the Yellow Jackets shot 40.3 percent (25-62) from the floor, 26.3 percent (5-19) from three and were 5-of-6 at the line.

The lead changed hands several times in the opening seven minutes and was ties at 13 before Southern Connecticut went on a 10-0 run to take the lead for good. The Owls led 38-28 at the half and led by as many as 20, 60-40, with 8:13 left in the second half.

AIC then used a 12-0 run to pull back within eight two minutes later and trailed by eight after sophomore guard Janek Schmidkunz (Berlin, Germany) knocked down a jumper with 1:25 to go to make it 68-60, but that would be the last point the Yellow Jackets would score in the contest.

AIC will next travel to the University of New Haven Tuesday night for a 5:30 p.m. Northeast-10 contest.