HUNTSVILLE, Ala. - The Union University men's basketball team posted a 71-70 win at the University of Alabama in Huntsville Saturday afternoon. Union improved to 14-3 overall and a league best 8-1 in the Gulf South Conference. Alabama Huntsville dropped to 11-7 on the year and 4-5 in league play. 

This marked just the second win for Union in Huntsville (last season 80-65). 

Union is receiving votes in both the NABC Coaches' Poll and the D2SIDA Media Poll.

UAH took a 70-68 lead on a 3-pointer with 2:56 left. That proved the be the final points of the game for UAH. Union's Tyree Boykin tied the game with 1:26 left at 70-70. Both teams then missed opportunities to take the lead on their next possessions as both teams committed turnovers. Union had the ball with 15 seconds left after Jeremiah Littlepage stole the ball from the Chargers. Union's Tylandrius Parks got to the free throw line with 2.5 seconds left, missing the first and making the second. UAH tried a full court pass for a final shot to win the game, but the ball was tipped by Union and the Bulldogs claimed the 71-70 win. 

Union opened the game with five straight points including a jumper from Parks and a 3-pointer from JC Clausi. Alabama Huntsville responded and took its first lead at 9-8 with 17:18 left to play in the half. Union maintained a small lead for the majority of the first half, including its largest of the half at 27-21 with 5:35 left. Again, UAH responded and with a layup in the final minute, took a halftime lead of 36-35. 

Alabama Huntsville held the advantage of a small lead for the first 10 minutes of the second half, including its largest lead of 60-53 with 9:53 left to play. Union rallied and tied the game at 60-60 on a Justin Debuck 3-pointer with 7:39 left. A Boykin three pointer on the next possession and Union had regained the lead, 63-60. The teams went back and forth for the remainder of the game.

Union was led by Debuck with 17 points including 4-of-8 shooting from 3-point range. Boykin and Littlepage added 15 points each and Parks scored 11 points. Littlepage had 11 rebounds to get his double-double. Union shot 43 percent from the field, including 54 percent in the second half. Union was 29 percent (10-34) from 3-point range and 56 percent (9-16) from the free throw line. 

Alabama Huntsville was led by Williamson with 28 points. Johnson scored 20 points and Leslie went for 10 points. The Chargers shot 42 percent from the field, 19 percent (4-21) from long range, and 77 percent (10-13) from the free throw line. 

Up next for Union will be a home game versus West Florida, Thursday, January 20 at 7:30 p.m. 

-UNION-