Box Score FLORENCE, Ala. – Jarell Byrd tipped in a shot by
Sandy Underwood with less than a second left in regulation to give West Alabama a 74-72 victory over North Alabama in Gulf South Conference basketball action Thursday at Flowers Hall.
The win put UWA on a five game win streak, including three on the road, and improves the Tigers to 10-5 overall and 7-2 in the GSC, ranked second. North Alabama, who entered the game leading the conference with 86.1 points per game, dropped to 10-7 and 4-5.
West Alabama led by as much as 15 in the first half, but gave up 16 unanswered points in the final three and half minutes to trail 41-39 at the break. Both teams exchanged the lead nine times in the second half.
Underwood put the Tigers up 72-71 in the final 30 seconds with two free-throws. UNA's Rashaun Claiborne tied the game for 12
th time in the final 15 seconds.
UWA finished 43.9 percent (25-57) shooting from the field and out rebounded the Lions 49-38. UNA finished 28.5 percent (6-of-21) shooting from the free-throw line and 32.3 percent (20-of-62) from the field.
"The guys just stuck with it until the end," UWA head coach
Mark Downey said.
"It was a night where we played really well the first 15 minutes of the game, and then I don't know where we went. We made a lot of dumb mistakes, but we never stopped fighting. We didn't give our best effort tonight, but luckily we played great in the first minutes to pull one out. When you're trying to win the conference and you go on the road and pull out a win like this against a team that was picked to win the conference, you'll take it."
Underwood and
Lleon Tillman each posted double-doubles. Underwood led the team with 19 points and 10 rebounds for his first double-double of the season, while Tillman led with 13 boards and 14 points for his fifth.
Byrd and
Desmond Raymond each finished with 17 points.
Three Lions scored double-figures with Bruce Adams leading with 18 points, Wes Long with 17 and Claiborne with 11.
West Alabama now travels to take on Union on Saturday in the second of a four game road stretch. Tipoff is set for 4 p.m. at Fred DeLay Gymnasium.
"We just have to keep taking care of ourselves and winning," Downey said. "If you can win on the road in the league you can win the league."
