Box Score JACKSON, Tenn. – Playing in front of a packed house at Fred DeLay Gymnasium, the Union University men's basketball fell to No. 19 Delta State (Miss.) University 77-71. Union dropped to 11-13 overall and 7-11 in the Gulf South Conference. Delta State is now 22-4 for the season and at 15-3 tops the Gulf South Conference standings.
Union overcame a 16-point second half deficit to down to just three points, 69-66, with 1:19 left.
In a swiftly moving first half Union hung with Delta State.
AJ Roberts dropped in a 3-point shot from the left wing at 17:14 to tie the game 5-5. Willie Readus sank a free throw line jump shot that ended an 8-2 spree for a 13-7 Statesmen edge. Back-to-back jumpers from Readus pushed the score to 19-12 with 12:06 in the half. The largest lead of the half for the Statesmen was eight points on two occasions, last at 24-16.
Paul Valdor hit a mid-range jump shot at 6:02 to pull Union with a basket 26-24. A 6-1 run by Delta State increased the score to 32-25. The Statesmen went to halftime in front 34-29.
Jack Madgen opened the second half scoring with a 3-point bucket from the right wing to move the lead to 37-29. A Roberts 3-point bucket capped an 8-0 Bulldogs surge and tied the game 37-37 at the 17:01 point of the second half. The Statesmen powered in front with an 18-2 burst to take a commanding 55-39 advantage with 10:40 left. Union whittled away on the spread with Roberts nailing another 3-point basket from the left wing off a pass from
Ashanti Day at 5:25 to close the margin to single digits 63-54. Roberts sank his fourth 3-point shot of the game from the left corner and was fouled by Mike Washington while in the process of taking the shot. The Roberts free throw made it a one possession game 69-66 with 1:19 to go. The Statesmen preserved the 77-71 win by hitting their final eight free throws in the last 49 seconds.
Five Bulldogs scored double digits with Day and Roberts each going for 17 points.
Corieon Pearson added 13 points and a game high five assists before fouling out with 49 seconds remaining. Valdor had 11 and
Roy Bullock contributed 10. Day had a game high 11 rebounds.
Readus had 20 points for the Statesmen. Devin Schmidt ended with 16, while Cornel Knight had 13 and Madgen 12. Delta State, the leading shooting team in the Gulf South Conference at 49.3 percent displayed their shooting prowess hitting 51 percent (25-of-49) of their shots from the field.
The Statesmen had their highest percentage game of the season at the free-throw line hitting 24-of-26 for 92.3 percent.
Up next for Union is a trip to Alabama Huntsville Thursday night for a 7:30 p.m. tip.
#UNION#
