LIVINGSTON, Ala. – The West Alabama defense allowed only five field goals and 19 points in the first half to defeat Mississippi College 74-58 in Gulf South Conference action and claim their 19^th straight victory at Pruitt Hall on Saturday.

West Alabama has won its last six games overall to improve to 14-7 overall and 9-4 in the GSC. The Tigers currently sit tied for first place in the league with West Georgia, Alabama Huntsville and Shorter. Mississippi College, now on a three game losing streak, drops to 7-8 and 5-8.  

UWA shot 12-of-28 from the field and 4-of-8 from the 3-point line in the first have, while holding the Choctaws to 5-of-21, to take a 31-19 lead at the break. MC improved to 14-of-24 from the field in the second half, but could not keep pace with the Tigers 78 percent shooting (11-of-14;  3-of-4 3-point FG).

The Tigers held their lead at the free throw line shooting 21-of-24 in the second half, led by Charles Eaton, who finished 9-of-10. Eaton came off the bench to lead the squad in scoring for the fifth consecutive game with 18 points.

"Our scoring has been pretty balanced, we don't have one guy averaging 20 points per game," said UWA head coach Allen Sharpe.

"That is to our advantage. Our opponents can't key in one or two guys to stop us. Our first half defense is what really won this game. For whatever reason we weren't able to hold them the same in the second half, but we still did enough to win the game. We were disappointed in our free throw attempts in the first half. We emphasize driving the ball so that we drawl the fouls and get to the line."

Justin Wright came back in the second half to hit five of his seven attempts from the field after not attempting any shots in the first. He finished with 16 points, hitting 5-of-5 from the free throw line. Kenric McCants was also perfect from the foul line, scoring all six of his points in six attempts.

"I talked to Justin personally at the half about scraping to get the ball to get more shots, and he stepped it up offensively in the second," said Sharpe.

Deontaye Ewing and Jarell Byrd each added double figure points. Ewing finished 13 and Byrd with 10 points, scoring seven in the first half.    

On defense, Dakari Mayo matched his season high, accounting for five of the Tigers six blocked shots.

Tristan Moore led Mississippi College with 19 points, shooting 7-of-9 from the field. The Choctaws leading scorer, Tory Rice, was held to 10 points in the game; two in the first half.

West Alabama will return to the road after being at home for the last five games to take on in state rival North Alabama Thursday. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m.  

"We love playing at home and we've had a lot of success here, but we are looking forward to getting back on the road," Sharpe said.