LIVINGSTON, Ala. – West Alabama men's hoops overcame its turnover woes and a 12 point second half deficit to defeat Stillman College 75-69 at Pruitt Hall on Saturday.

UWA improves to 3-2 overall, while Stillman slips to 3-3 on a three game losing streak.

Stillman turned nine turnovers into 10 points in the first half to take a 39-36 lead at the break. It opened the second half with a 13 point run to go ahead 54-42 with 14 minutes left to play.

With five minutes left in the game, UWA tied the score at 60-60 before going on an eight point run sparked by a Simeon Dennis 3-point field goal. Stillman managed to tie the game once more with a minute and a half left in regulation, but could not recapture the lead.

"We straightened out the turnovers at halftime, it was bad there in the first," said UWA head coach Allen Sharpe. "We felt like most of their points were coming on our mistakes, but we were able to improve in the second half. I felt like our second half defense really won the game by only holding them to 30 points in the half. Stillman is good at what they do. They press and are good at creating turnovers which makes it easier for them on offense."

SC finished with 20 points on 19 total UWA turnovers, giving up 16 points on 14 off of its own giveaways. The UWA Tigers bench totaled 40 of its points, led by Dennis with 19. He finished 6-of-9 from the field and 2-of-3 from the 3-point arc. Jake Jobling also entered the game late to tally 12 points on 4-of-8 field goal shooting; 2-of-5 from behind the arc.

"We showed a lot of fight in the second half and Simeon gave us a good spark coming off the bench," Sharpe said. "Overall it was a good win and Stillman is a good team. They are going to beat a lot of people this year."

Deontaye Ewing led West Alabama at the free throw line hitting all nine of his attempts which all came in the second half. The Tigers combined for 28-of-36 (77 percent) at the charity stripe. They finished 21-of-53 from the field (39 percent), while Stillman led the field goal shooting 24-of-56 (42 percent).   

Rodnerius Lewis led the Stillman Tigers with 20 points, followed by Antonio Penny with 15. Maurice Crenshaw totaled 11 of Stillman's 24 bench points.

Dakari Mayo led the UWA defense with six blocks and nine total rebounds. West Alabama led 43-28 in boards.

West Alabama men's basketball will open up Gulf South Conference action on Thursday when it hosts Mississippi College. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m. in Pruitt Hall.