SAN ANTONIO, Texas – The No. 9 University of North Georgia (UNG) men's basketball team fell to Central Missouri 53-52 Wednesday afternoon in its final game in the River City Holiday Classic in San Antonio, Texas.

With the loss, the Nighthawks fall to 9-3 on the season. The Mules improved to 6-5 with the victory.

Central Missouri only had one player reach double digit scoring in the defensive affair. Josh Nwankwo finished with 17 points, seven rebounds and four steals to help his team to the win. However, the Mules had five players score six or more points.

For the UNG, junior guard AJ White led the way with 17 points while going 6-for-10 from the floor and 3-for-6 from deep. Junior center Colin Turner added 12 points and six rebounds while junior guard Cayden Charles also had 11 points with seven rebounds. 

Basketball is often referred to as "a game of runs" and Wednesday's showdown was exactly that.

The Mules jumped out to an early 11-3 lead thanks to a 9-1 scoring run in the first eight minutes. The Nighthawks responded by scoring 12 unanswered points to take a 15-11 lead with 7:01 left in the first half. 

From there, it was largely a back and forth game until halftime as Central Missouri shortened the deficit to just one point at the break with UNG leading 22-21.

The Mules went on another scoring streak out of the locker room, opening the second half by out-scoring the Nighthawks 15-4 in the first five minutes. With 15:20 left in the contest, Central Missouri had gathered its largest lead of the game at 36-26.

The lead held around that mark until UNG held the Mules scoreless for a four-minute stretch. In that span the Nighthawks went on a 9-0 run to tie the game at 42-42 with 9:09 remaining.

The lead would exchange five more times in the final nine minutes of play. UNG held a 51-50 advantage with 2:32 to play after a layup from freshman forward Zack Hawkinson.

Central Missouri reclaimed the lead 16 seconds later with a layup of its own from Deairius Barker. After a miss on the other end from the Nighthawks, Barker was fouled and headed to the free throw line with a chance to extend the Mules' lead to three points. 

Barker made the first free throw but missed the second one. With 1:28 to play, UNG was down by a bucket, 53-51. 

Hawkinson was fouled on the ensuing possession and headed to the charity stripe to try and tie the game. The freshman missed the first free throw but made the second. Trailing 53-52 with 1:10 to play, the Nighthawks needed a critical stop on defense. 

They got exactly that despite two offensive rebounds for Central Missouri. UNG forced three misses in the Mules' final possession of the game and got the ball back with 13 seconds remaining and a chance to win the game.

Unfortunately, Central Missouri also came up strong defensively on the final possession. Against a hounding defense, the Nighthawks were unable to get a good look at the basket and were forced to throw up a final shot at the last second. The attempt missed and the Mules escaped with a win.

Now UNG will look to recollect after a pair of losses in the River City Holiday Classic as it heads to Jefferson City, Tenn. on Saturday. There the Nighthawks will take on Carson-Newman in an all important regional road game. Tip off against the Eagles is set for Dec. 21 at 2 p.m.