January 4, 2010 – ATLANTA – The Maroon Tigers clawed their way back from a 15-point second-half deficit, but fell short in the end, losing to the Paine College Lions, 69-66.

Trailing 36-33 at the half, Morehouse slumped early in the second half and fell behind by double digits, only to rally late and close the gap. Carrington Carter hit two free throws to bring the Tigers within one point, with 24 seconds remaining. A Morehouse foul sent Mario Jordan to the free-throw line and Paine’s best free-throw shooter made the Tigers pay.

Jelani Figures scored a team-high 19 points and hauled in a team-high 14 rebounds. The 6’-5” guard from Mobile sat out the first half of the season.

Shawn Allen also recorded double figures, with 14 points and 10 rebounds.

Morehouse fell to 0-6; Paine improved to 4-6.

Three Lions scored in double figures, led by Jordan, who scored 24 points, on 8-of-18 shooting, including five three-pointers.

The Maroon Tigers hit the road for two games – Saturday (7:30 p.m.) at Miles and Monday (7:30 p.m.) at Lemoyne Owen, before returning home January 14 (7:30 p.m.) to face Kentucky State.