North Alabama head coach Bobby Champagne said he would be in a foul mood during the holiday layover thanks to a 86-71 defeat at the hands of West Georgia Dec. 19 in Flowers Hall.

The Lions (6-3, 1-2 Gulf South Conference) struggled to find success in any form against the visiting Wolves (6-3, 3-0 GSC).

“Our team looked pretty bad,” Champagne said. “You have to give credit to West Georgia. They did a good job of guarding the ball screen, and we didn’t adjust very well, ever. Maybe one or two possessions we adjusted well, but we couldn’t do it consistently.”

In the first half, the Lions held the Wolves to a 31-26 lead, but fouls were abundant as the teams combined for 30 total fouls in the half and finished with 66.

UWG began to pull away slowly in the second half as they took advantage of a poor shooting day for UNA. The Lions finished with 29.2 percent on field goals.

“It’s kind of hard to win a basketball game when the brown thing doesn’t go in the round thing,” Champagne said.

Senior guard Dimario Jackson led the team in scoring with 22 points. Junior forward Sharwyn McGee was next with 12 points. McGee also had 12 rebounds to give him a double-double before fouling out in the second half.

Senior forward Austin Timms was the only other player to eclipse double-digit scoring with 11.

“We have to defend better,” Timms said. “There was some bad calls by the refs, but we can’t blame it on them. We need to watch some film, learn from it and put this one behind us.”

UNA is off for 12 days before they embark on their first road conference game at Valdosta State Dec. 31.