LIVINGSTON, Ala. - The University of West Alabama Men's Basketball team swept the GSC-SIAC Crossover on Saturday night after defeating Central State, 65-62 at the John Wooden Family Fieldhouse.

West Alabama (2-0, 0-0 GSC) used a strong defensive second half, in where they held Central State (1-1, 0-0 SIAC) to 22 points, to conclude a picture perfect opening weekend.

The Tigers fell behind, 13-5 to begin the game before baskets from Rasean Frederick and Jakobe Singleton jumpstarted West Alabama's offense. Off the bench, Caleb Parr entered the game and immediately buried a pair of threes while a jumper from Singleton gave UWA their first lead of the game at the 10:00 mark of the half. For the remainder of the half, both teams traded buckets with the Marauders' Keionte Cornelius knocking down a three with 35 seconds left that gave Central State a 38-34 lead at halftime.

Frederick turned in 12 first half points while West Alabama shot 50 percent from the floor as a team. As for Central State, they shot 59.3 percent from the field and 46.2 percent from three at the break.

After allowing the Marauders to shoot nearly  60 percent from the floor in the first half, UWA turned up the heat on the defensive end in the second half. CSU held their lead until the 11:00 minute mark when the Tigers' defensive effort sparked a 13-0 run to take a 58-51 advantage. With 5:28 left to play and leading by seven, West Alabama made timely baskets down the stretch to keep a health distance from Central State. The Tigers led by seven with under a minute left to play before a four-point play from the Marauders made it a three-point game with one second left. At this point in the game, UWA just needed to inbound the ball without turning it over to collect a win and Elliot Tulip found BJ Brown Jr. to clinch a 65-62 victory.

West Alabama brings their 2-0 record to Pruitt Hall on Wednesday at 5:00 p.m. as they're set to play Georgia Southwestern in their home opener.