TUSKEGEE, Ala. | James Eads led three Tuskegee University Golden Tigers in double figures with a career-high, but it wasn't enough as Johnson C. Smith closed out the CIAA/SIAC Challenge with a 66-59 victory over Tuskegee on Saturday afternoon inside Chappie James Arena.
 
Eads scored a career-high 17 points on 50 (7-of-14) shooting from the floor, while grabbing four rebounds. He was joined in double figures by Kevin May with 12 points, six rebounds and four assists. Senior Camden Foster added 12 points, seven rebounds, four assists and two steals in the loss.
 
Tuskegee shot 33.8 (22-of-65) percent from the floor, 26.7 (8-of-30) percent from beyond the arc and just 38.9 (7-of-18) percent from the free throw line. The Golden Tigers won the rebounding battle 47-41 against Johnson C. Smith.
 
Alandre Davis led Johnson C. Smith with 16 points and nine rebounds, while Stedmon Lemon added 15 points and eight rebounds. Robert Davis added 12, and Diondre Pratt 11 points and seven rebounds.
 
Johnson C. Smith shot 43.1 (22-of-51) percent from the floor, 22.2 (2-of-9) percent from beyond the arc and 80 (20-of-25) percent from the free throw line.
 
Tuskegee (1-1) held the momentum for much of the first half as they led for the first eight minutes, before Johnson C. Smith was able to come back and take the lead for the remainder of the opening stanza.
 
The Golden Bulls took a 13-11 on a dunk by Stedmon Lemon and extended that lead to 15-11, before Joshua Culver got Tuskegee back on the board with 10:17 remaining in the half.
 
The Golden Tigers would come back and take a 17-16 lead with 9:20 remaining in the half on a three-pointer from Austin Cherry, before Johnson C. Smith went on to extend the lead to six at 27-21. That is when Tuskegee closed out the half on a 6-2 run when Kevin May hit a three-pointer, before James Eads put back a miss by May with an emphatic dunk for the halftime score of 29-28.
 
Johnson C. Smith (1-1) opened up a 13-point lead with eight minutes remaining in the contest, before Tuskegee came back and trimmed the lead to five at 54-49 with 4:49 to play in the game.
 
Tuskegee was able to get to within six with 1:14 to play, but Johnson C. Smith was able to put the game away at the free throw line.
 
The Golden Tigers return to action Wednesday on the road against the University of Montevallo. Tip is set for 7:30 pm.
 
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