Oakwood University wasn't supposed to give Gulf Coast Athletic Conference leader Tougaloo College much trouble Tuesday night.

After all, the Bulldogs entered the GCAC Round Up 18-1 overall and 6-0 in league play. Meanwhile, the Ambassadors were 2-14 and 0-6 and had lost seven in a row.

Despite that, Oakwood put together one of its best efforts of the season and gave Tougaloo all it could handle before falling 65-56 at Ashby Auditorium in a highly-contested game.

The loss, Oakwood's eighth straight, dropped the Ambassadors to 2-15 overall and 0-7 in league play. Meanwhile, the Bulldogs improved to 19-1 and 7-0.

"We went toe-to-toe with the best team in our league and came within two or three plays of beating them," Oakwood coach Simon Jacob said. "I was proud of our guys and proud of our effort. This will give us something to build on as we start the second half of conference play."

The Ambassadors trailed 29-24 at intermission, but opened the second half with an 11-2 run to take a 35-31 advantage on two free throws by Chris Davis with just under 16 minutes to play.

Tougaloo outscored Oakwood 24-5 over the next nine minutes to go up 55-40 at the 7:10 mark, but the Ambassadors wouldn't go away.

Felix McGhee's 3-pointer with  38 seconds left pulled Oakwood within 61-56, but the Bulldogs hit four free throws down the stretch to avoid the upset.

Judelin Prophete (Miami, FL) led Oakwood with 19 points, eight rebounds and five blocks. Robert Booker II (Laurel, MD) finished with 13 points and eight rebounds.

Oakwood shot 31.8 percent (21-of-66) from the field, including 19 percent (4-of-21) from 3-point range, and 76.9 percent (10-of-13) from the free throw line.

Antonio Patterson led four Tougaloo players in double figures with 15 points and 11 rebounds.

The Bulldogs shot 32.8 percent (21-of-64) from the field, including 12.5 percent (2-of-16) from 3-point range, and 87.5 percent (21-of-24) from the charity stripe.

Tougaloo outrebounded Oakwood 49-38 and had a 25-14 advantage in bench points and a 23-11 edge in points off turnovers.

Oakwood is back in action Tuesday at home against Cumberland University.