SAN ANTONIO – The Angelo State men's basketball team dropped its first game of the season in a down-to-the-wire 71-68 loss to Minnesota-Duluth on Friday in its first contest of the St. Mary's Invitational being played at Bill Greehey Arena.

The Rams (2-1) pulled to within 69-68 with five seconds remaining on a Jovan Austin shot, but two free throws by Calahan Skogman for the Bulldogs (2-1) proved to be the winning margin. Austin led the Rams with a career-high 19 points and added four assists and four rebounds, while Antonio Dye added 18 and Chris Talkington contributed 13 points and a team-high 10 rebounds.

Angelo State trailed most of the game, but made several comebacks in the second half including a 61-59 advantage on a Sydney Holoman basket with 4:48 that would prove to be its final lead of the game. ASU, which outscored UMD 39-35 in the second half, had taken their first lead of the game on a Talkington jump shot at the 8:14 mark of the second half after trailing throughout the first half and the first 11 minutes of the second half.

ASU shot 39 percent from the floor in the game and were limited to 4-of-16 shooting on three-point attempts. Jordan Reetz led the Bulldogs with 14 points and 10 rebounds. UMD shot 48.8 percent from the floor and made eight 3-pointers.

Angelo State trailed Minnesota-Duluth 36-29 at halftime with Austin leading the Rams with nine points and Talkington adding seven. ASU was shooting 44 percent from the floor in the opening stanza and were limited to 2-of-6 shooting from beyond the arc. UMD shot 50 percent from the field, including knocking down five 3-pointers to stake itself out to the seven-point halftime advantage.

The Rams return to action at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday where they'll play St. Mary's. The two teams split last season's series with ASU winning in San Angelo and the Rattlers taking a win on their home court.