Saint Augustine’s College’s first of a two-game trip to the state of Virginia this week started none too kind for the Falcons’ men. When Rodney Henry nailed a three-pointer from the corner with one second left, the Falcons saw their eight-game winning streak snapped in a 92-89 loss to Virginia State on Tuesday in a CIAA basketball contest. Fortunately, the defeat had no bearing on the CIAA Western Division which the Falcons lead.

The Falcons’ away game Feb. 4 (Saturday) against top-ranked Virginia Union, the defending CIAA and NCAA Division II champion, will feature the conference’s Eastern and Western Division leaders. The game starts at 7:30 p.m.

Though the Falcons (14-4 overall, 8-3 CIAA) have the better record, Tuesday’s contest proved that league road games are tough. But the Falcons almost sent the game into overtime on Claude Neeley’s 3-pointer with 12 seconds left. Antonio Fitzgerald assisted on the game-tying basket. But Henry answered with a 3-pointer seconds later to give Eastern Division foe Virginia State (4-15 overall, 3-5 CIAA) the victory before 2,334 fans at VSU Gym who were mostly rooting for the home team.

Once again, the “young gunners” consisting of Neeley, Fitzgerald and Nicholas King carried the Falcons. Neeley, the CIAA’s No. 3 scoring leader and top rebounder entering this week, led the Falcons with 27 points, his second-highest point total this season. King, the CIAA No. 2 scorer, added 22 points and 12 rebounds and Fitzgerald, the CIAA scoring leader and this week’s league player of the week, contributed 18 points.

Led by the big trio, the Falcons shot 50 percent for the game including a scorching 61 percent in the second half but VSU was hot as well, shooting 58 percent for the game including 55 percent in the second half and 61 percent in the first half.

Henry led five VSU double-figure scorers with 18 points.