UWA men beat second DI foe in two days

TOWSON, Md. – The West Alabama men’s basketball team finished as Co-Champions in the Battle 4 Atlantis Mainland tournament hosted by Towson University after a 90-77 exhibition victory over The Citadel at SECU Arena on Saturday.

West Alabama (2-2) won for the second straight time over a Division I opponent for the first time in program history. The Citadel (2-6) jumped to a 9-2 lead in the first three minutes of the game, but the Tigers rallied to lead 51-28 by halftime.

“I thought we grew up a lot this weekend, but we still have a long way to go,” UWA head coach Mark Downey said. “We should have handled the lead a little bit better toward the end, but we now have our first championship here at the University of West Alabama.”

Cordell Pope recorded UWA’s second double-double of the year, scoring 23 points and collecting 10 rebounds against The Citadel. Pope was 5-for-8 from behind the three-point arc. Aaron Cobb followed Pope with 19 points, shooting 5-for-6 from the field and making all three of his three-point attempts.

Brian White scored 24 points, all in the second half, to lead Bulldog scoring.

UWA’s Sandy Underwood was selected as the tournament’s co-MVP, finishing with 35 points in the two games. Jarell Byrd had a double-double on Friday against Abilene Christian and finished the event with 30 points and all-tournament honors.

West Alabama returns home to face Claflin on Tuesday. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. in Pruitt Hall.