UWA basketball falls to Alabama

Trevor Lacey scored a career-high 23 points to lead Alabama to an 80-49 college basketball victory Sunday at Coleman Coliseum as part of the 2K Sports Classic to Benefit Wounded Warriors.

The win improves the Crimson Tide to 2-0 on the young season. West Alabama dropped to 0-1. The Tigers entertain Selma University Wednesday at Pruitt Hall in the 2012 home opener. Tipoff is 7 p.m.

“That was 20 good minutes of basketball to start with,” UWA head coach Mike Newell said. “We knew their strengths would play into our weaknesses, but it’s always good to get that first one out of the way.”

West Alabama trailed by one at 15-14 with just 10 minutes gone in the first half before Alabama stretched the advantage to 11 by the break. Turnovers led to the eventual undoing of the Tigers, who committed 25 to just 14 for the Tide. Alabama converted those turnovers into 28 points.

“Those things can happen when you play a pressure team early with a team that is relatively inexperienced, and that’s what we are with so many new players,” Newell said. “We just need to regroup and get back to work.”

Jack Hill came off the bench to notch his first double-double as a Tiger with 18 points and 13 rebounds. Sandy Underwood chipped in nine points and Steven Samuels had eight for UWA, who shot 32 percent from the floor.

UWA outrebounded Alabama 41-38, but the Tide made 46 percent of its field goal tries (27-of-59) and shot 47 percent from behind the three point line (9-of-19).