CHARLOTTE, N.C. - The Anderson University men's basketball team trimmed a 16-point second-half deficit to just seven, but was unable to complete the comeback, falling, 80-65, to Queens University in South Atlantic Conference action Saturday afternoon at the Levine Center.

Anderson (8-10, 4-8 SAC) has dropped five of its last six and has suffered three consecutive regular-season setbacks for the first time since falling to Mars Hill, Newberry and Catawba during the 2010-11 campaign. Queens improved to 11-7 overall and 8-4 in the conference with its second-straight victory.

Anderson freshman Matthew McClain scored a career-high 15 points, including 11 in the first half on 6-of-9 shooting from the field. Senior Nick Jackson shared team-high scoring honors with 15 points, while senior Myson Jones added 11 points and handed out a team-best four assists. Senior Center Chris Ross pulled down a team-high six rebounds.

Queens' junior Sean Morgan posted a double-double with a game-high 24 points and 10 rebounds and was 11-of-13 from the field on the afternoon. Junior guard Kendall Jones added 10 points for the Royals.

The Royals edged AU on the boards, 30-27, while shooting 55.4 percent from the field, The Trojans connected on 20-of-43 on the afternoon for a 46.5 percent shooting afternoon. Led by Morgan inside, Queens outscored the Trojans, 44-20, in the paint and turned a season-high 24 Anderson miscues into 31 points.

The game featured seven ties and seven lead changes, all in the opening 20 minutes, with Queens grabbing the largest lead of the frame, at seven points.

Queens used its inside strength to gain an early 6-5 advantage, as the Royals pulled down a pair of offensive rebounds and scored all six points inside the paint in the opening moments. Ross evened the contest at six apiece with one of two from the line at the 15:39 mark. But the Royals capitalized on a pair of AU turnovers and responded with seven unanswered points over the next two minutes to give Queens a 13-6 advantage with 13:56 left in the half.

The Trojans' Nick Jackson countered with a put-back while drawing a foul and drained the free throw for an old-fashioned three-point play to ignite a 6-0 run by the Trojans. Maurice Howard followed the free throw with a driving layup down the right side of the lane and sophomore Rakish Taylor added one of two from the line to get AU within 13-12.

Queens' junior guard Rob Lewis snapped the AU run with a 3-pointer and Logan Evans' layup boosted the Royals' lead back to 18-12 midway through the first half, but the Trojans answered again, as back-to-back 3-pointers, first from Jackson at the top of the circle, then by McClain deep in the left corner, knotted the contest at 18-18 at the 9:14 mark. Freshman Tre' Fields drained a pair of free throws less than a minute later to give the Trojans their first lead since the opening basket of the game.

The Royals then responded with a pair of four-point runs sandwiched around a monstrous dunk by McClain to give Queens a 26-22 edge with more than six minutes remaining in the opening half. Jackson then sparked an 8-2 outburst with a trey and following a jumper from QU's Jones, McClain sored five unanswered points to regain a brief, 30-28, lead for Anderson.

Moments later, with the score knotted at 32-32 at the 2:46 mark, the Royals closed the half with an 8-1 run to take a 40-33 halftime advantage.

The outburst continued through the first three minutes of the second half, with the run extending to 17-2 as Queens built a 49-34 cushion. But the Trojans refused to go quietly, with Jackson nailing a 3-pointer from the right side and Jones adding an old-fashioned three-point play to pull AU within single digits, at 49-40 before the first media timeout of the second half.

Queens countered with another run, as back-to-back treys and a free throw from sophomore Jared Hendryx gave the Royals their largest lead of the afternoon, at 56-40 with 14:09 on the clock. The Trojan offense then began chipping away at the double-digit deficit, with AU posting an 11-2 surge to get as close as seven midway through the final half. McClain and DJ McGowan fueled the run with four points apiece.

However, the homestanding Royals responded with seven unanswered points to reclaim a 14-point advantage and the Trojans were unable to get any closer than 73-65 on Jones' second 3-pointer of the contest with 1:33 on the clock.

The Trojans wrap up their two-game road swing with a trip to the Volunteer State to square off against Carson-Newman on Wednesday for the first time this season. Tip-off versus the Eagles at Holt Fieldhouse is slated for 8 p.m.