JACKSON, Tenn. – The Union University defense held the University of West Alabama to a season low of 28 shooting percentage from the field and 22 percent from the 3-point line to defeat the Tigers 71-62 in Gulf South Conference men's basketball action at Fred DeLay Gymnasium Thursday.
Union improves to 9-2 overall and 3-2 in the GSC, while West Alabama dips to 6-6 and 2-3.
West Alabama marked a season high of 49 rebounds and limited its opponent to 30, leading 22-2 in offensive boards.
Lleon Tillman led with 14 rebounds, followed by
Justin Wright with 11.
Both teams battled through three lead changes in the first half, but a late 7-0 point run by the Bulldogs gave them a 32-27 advantage at the break. Union built its lead to 17 points with eight minutes remaining. UWA could only trim the margin down to six in the final minute despite a late rally on a 12-2 point run.
"We were disappointed at the half only having 27 points," said UWA head coach
Allen Sharpe.
"We felt like we defended them really well. They only had 32 points at the half. We ran into this last week and we just have to continue to find a solution. We had some fire down the stretch to make a game out of it at the end, but we just waited too late. We can't just flip a switch and have it when we want to, we have to have it for a full 40 minutes."
The Tigers fell from shooting 31 percent (9-for-29) in the first half to 26 percent (10-for-38) in the second. Although Union had 12 fewer field goal attempts, it finished 49 percent from the field (27-for-55).
The Bulldogs turned 13 UWA turnovers into 13 points, while the Tigers were able to capitalize with only 8 points off of Union's seven turnovers.
Marterrace Brock led the Bulldogs with 21 points, hitting 10 field goals in 18 attempts. Corieon Pearson finished trailed with 16.
Wright went on to lead the Tiger offense, while posting his second double-double with 15 points.
Jarell Byrd finished with 14 and
Khalil Carter and
Charles Eaton each had 10.
West Alabama men's hoops will wrap up the year 2014 on the road against Christian Brothers University in Memphis, Tenn., Saturday. Tipoff is set for 4 p.m. at Canale Arena.
