LIVINGSTON, Ala. – Junior guard Deontaye Ewing posted his season best of 22 points to lead the University of West Alabama to an 86-74 victory over Christian Brothers University in Gulf South Conference men's basketball action at Pruitt Hall on Thursday.  

West Alabama snaps its two game losing skid to improve to 15-9 overall and 10-6 in the GSC. The Tigers now sit tied with Union University for fourth place in the league standings. Christian Brothers falls to 11-9 and 8-8, ranked seventh.  

Ewing had 13 points, shooting 5-for-6 from the field and 3-for-3 from the 3-point line in the first half. He finished 8-for-11 and 4-for-5 to top his previous scoring performance of 14 points set against CBU on the road on Dec. 20, 2014.

"Ewing scoring the ball for us can give us whole new dimension to our team," said UWA head coach Allen Sharpe.

"I've talked to him this week about being more aggressive offensively and he definitely was tonight. If he can maintain this aggressiveness then we will have much more firepower offensively. I'm really proud of him. I think after seeing some success, he can keep doing it for us."

All eight Tigers that entered the game put points on the board, including four Tigers in double-digits. Justin Wright followed Ewing in points scored with 21; 12 in the second half. Charles Eaton tallied 12 of the team's 19 bench points, while Kenric McCants finished with 11 points and added six assists.

The Tigers set the pace in the first half by sinking 21 field goals in 35 attempts. The Buccaneers struggled to keep up hitting only 12-of-23 to trail 52-33 at the break. CBU battled back in the second half outscoring UWA 41-34, but could not overcome the first half deficit.

West Alabama finished 33-of-60 from the field, 8-of-15 from the 3-point arc and 12-of-13 from the free throw line. The Bucs totaled 29-of-52 form the field and 6-of-14 in 3-pointers.

"We've focused more on having more urgency offense, and it showed in the first half," Sharpe said.

"We were much more on the attack and more aggressive tonight. You really need to be that way against Christian Brothers because they are good at slowing the game down. I was really pleased with our offense tonight. If you told me last week that we could get 86 points, I would have thought you were crazy."

Every Tiger with minutes also added to the rebounding effort as the Tigers led 30-22 in boards. The rebounds were evenly distributed on both sides of the court with 14 offensive and 16 defensive. Wright led nine, followed by Dakari Mayo with seven.

Trey Casey led CBU in scoring with 28 points, hitting 11-of-19 from the field; 2-of-3 in 3-point shots. Sidy Sall followed with 18 and Ryan Fleming with 12.  

"I liked our team spirit and chemistry this week, and it was good to see it carry over into a game," Sharpe said.

West Alabama will remain at home to face Union University on Saturday. Tipoff is set for 4 p.m. at Pruitt Hall.