DALLAS, Texas – For nearly 30 minutes, the Hampton University men's basketball team hung tough with No. 18 SMU, before the Mustangs pulled away late for a 105-72 win at the Moody Coliseum.
 
The Pirates fell to 4-4 on the season.
 
Quinton Chievous and Brian Darden each led the Pirates with 18 points, while Reginald Johnson, Jr. added 16 points. Chievous and Johnson each grabbed a team-high six rebounds – while Johnson also dished out a team-high five assists.
 
Darden, who also hit five 3-pointers, also had three steals.
 
Chievous went 8-for-11 from the floor.
 
The Pirates shot 43.8 percent (28-for-64) from the floor and made 12 of their 31 3-pointers (38.7 percent).
 
The Pirates scored the first four points of the game, and that momentum carried into later in the half, when Darden capped a 9-1 Hampton run with a trey. That bucket gave the Pirates a 16-9 lead at the 14:47 mark of the first half.
 
Back-to-back jumpers from Sterling Brown ended the run, before the Pirates went on an 8-2 run to take a 24-15 lead after Lawrence Cooks hit a 3-pointer with 11:41 left in the half.
 
SMU answered with 10 straight points to take a 25-24 lead at the 8:11 mark.
 
Charles Wilson-Fisher ended the run, giving the Pirates a 26-25 lead, before SMU went on a 16-5 run to take a 41-31 lead after a 3-pointer from Nic Moore at the 2:51 mark.
 
Hampton closed the half on a 10-2 run, cutting SMU's lead to 43-41 at the break after a layup from Chievous. Johnson had 11 points at the half, while Darden had 10.
 
A layup from Jervon Pressley early in the second half cut SMU's lead to 46-43, and the Pirates kept the margin within single digits until the 14:34 mark, when Jarrey Foster sank a layup to give the Mustangs a 63-53 lead.
 
A Pressley layup cut the lead to 63-55, before SMU went on an 8-0 run to take a 71-55 lead.
 
A Chievous layup with 9:37 left cut SMU's lead to 78-64, but the Mustangs ended the game on a 27-8 run – thanks in large part to their proficiency behind the arc and at the free throw line.
 
SMU went 8-for-8 from the free throw line down the stretch.
 
SMU (9-0) shot 55.7 percent (39-for-70) from the floor – including a 67.7 percent (23-for-34) clip in the second half – and went 10-for-24 (41.7 percent) from behind the arc. The Mustangs went 7-for-10 from distance in the second half alone.
 
The Mustangs also out-rebounded the Pirates 49-23.
 
Brown led six SMU players in double figures with 23 points, while Tolbert added 20 points and 19 rebounds.
 
The Pirates will be in Boulder, Colo. To take on Colorado at 9 p.m. EST. For more information on Hampton University basketball, please call the Office of Sports Information at (757) 727-5811, or visit the official Pirates website at www.hamptonpirates.com.