Senior guard Aliaksei Patsevich looks for an opening during Sunday afternoon’s game against Georgia Southern University. (Spencer J Eggers/The Daily Campus)

Southern Methodist University’s men’s basketball team lost to the Jackson State Tigers (1-9) in the last minutes of the game 59-58 in the first annual Dallas Classic.

In efforts to “strengthen its relationship with the city, Dallas’ hometown team,” the Mustangs host the Dallas Classic at Ellis Davis Fieldhouse Thursday night.

Efforts put forth in strengthening the athletic programs relationship with the city also allow seven members, who are from the Dallas area, of the current SMU team to give back to their communities. Cannen Cunningham, London Giles, Jalen Jones, Robert Nyakundi, Jordan Walker and Shawn Williams all attended high school in the Dallas area before attending SMU as well as 10 of the Top 22 all time scorers in SMU basketball history are from the Dallas area.

The Mustangs played on Thursday after winning four of their last five games, including the 69-63 overtime win against Arkansas-Little Rock. So far this season, SMU is holding opponents to 58.6 points per game, currently 2nd in the C-USA, while leading C-USA in 3-pointers per game.