The UNA men’s basketball team lost a tough road game to rival University of Alabama-Huntsville 83-76 last Saturday, Feb. 26, but the Lions punched their ticket for the Gulf South Conference Tournament.

The game did not mean much after hearing that Valdosta State defeated West Alabama, giving the Lions a GSC Tournament berth. The Lions wanted to make a statement to the conference that they were no easy out by taking down one of their biggest rivals.

“I felt like both teams really got after it and it was a really good college basketball game,” said head coach Bobby Champagne. “The environment was great with a bunch of purple and gold in there. A couple of plays here and there, we may have got over the hump.”

The Lions jumped out strong in the first half with threes by freshman guard Wes Long and senior guard Ricky Davison giving the Lions an early 8-2 lead. They remained in control for most of the first 10 minutes of the first half as senior guard Trent McCants made a two-point jumper, giving the Lions their biggest lead of the night at 22-14 with 11:46 remaining.

UAH responded by going on an 8-0 run to tie the game with 9:51 remaining in the half. Junior forward Warrick Mastin then answered and ended the run. The rest of the half was back and forth as the UAH Chargers outscored the Lions 26-14 after getting down eight and leading 40-36 at the half. The Lions shot well in the first half, but the turnovers helped the Chargers to get back in control of the game.

“We had a number of walking violations in the first half,” Champagne said. “A team like Huntsville capitalizes on mistakes you make, and we made a few too many.”

The second half began with a three by Long, cutting the lead to one, but again the Chargers answered that with a 9-2 run with 14:40 remaining in the game. The Lions battled back behind junior center Marcus Landry and Davison as the Lions tied the game up at 56.

Josh Magette took over for the Chargers in second half, as they remained ahead for the rest of the half. The Lions had a couple of chances to tie or take the lead, but missed free throws haunted them. Landry continued to dominate the second half, but UAH was too much in the end as they beat the Lions 83-76.

“We basically came into the game as if a win would put us in the tournament, and with that mindset it motivated us to play hard,” said Davison.

The Lions had five different players score double digit points, led by Landry as he recorded 20 points and 7 rebounds. Davison was second in scoring with 14 points, eight rebounds, and two assists.

“Marcus has really been playing good for us down the stretch,” Champagne said. “Marcus did a good job staying out of foul trouble and putting their big man Zane Campbell in foul trouble.”

Even after the loss, the Lions clinched a spot in the conference tournament as the number four seed and will face the ninth ranked team in the country, Arkansas Tech, Friday, March 4, at 12:30 p.m. in Southaven, Miss.

“Everyone is very excited, and it was a relief that we had a chance,” Davison said. “We basically got to take one game at a time and focus on whatever team is put in our way.”