Five in double figures as UWA beats Shorter

LIVINGSTON – West Alabama had five players post double-figure scoring marks led by Sandy Underwood, who tallied 26, to defeat Shorter 92-78 in Gulf South Conference basketball action Saturday at Pruitt Hall.

The win put the Tigers on a three game win streak, improving UWA to 8-5 overall and 5-2 in the GSC, ranked second. Shorter dropped to 5-8 and 2-5.

West Alabama pushed through 14 lead changes in the first half to hold a 43-39 lead at the break. The Tigers never trailed again, holding the Hawks to 38.7 percent shooting in the second half.

“I don’t think tonight was our best effort,” UWA head coach Mark Downey said. “I didn’t like the way we guarded, especially in the first half, but we kept grinding it out and made just enough plays to get our third win in a row at home; the first time we’ve done that all year.”

Underwood ended 9-of-15 from the field and led the Tigers at the free-throw line with 8-of-9. The Tigers overall finished 26-of-32 (81.3 percent) in foul shots.

Desmond Raymond trailed Underwood with 19 points. Lleon Tillman, Mychael Bester and Jared Woolfolk each totaled 12 points. Tillman led with 14 boards marking his fourth double-double in five games.

UWA ended with 46 points in the paint, while holding Shorter to 18.

“Before this last four game stretch we were only 75 percent from the free-throw line as a team, so it was good to get that effort at the line tonight,” said Downey.

“Points in the paint is what we get when we run our offense well. That’s what we look to do. We are always looking to grind it out and pull those jumpers and layups. It’s a key to our game every game, and we didn’t do a good job of it in the beginning, but we’re still learning and improving.”

Four Hawks marked double-digit point figures with Brandon Pullman leading with 20 points. Jordan Jacks and Kurtis Woods followed with 16 each, while Dedric Ware recorded 12.

West Alabama returns to the court Thursday to face Lee University in conference action. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m. in Pruitt Hall.

“Our road swings our very important this year, but we have to continue to take care of business at home. We can’t afford to slip up at home.”