JACKSON, Tenn. - The Union University men's basketball team dropped a home game to the University of North Georgia 69-55 at Fred DeLay Gymasium/David Blackstock Court. Union dropped to 3-4 overall, while North Georgia improved to 5-1 on the season.

Union's Tylandrius Parks opened the game with a 3-point play to give his team the early lead. The teams went back and forth early. North Georgia led 11-10 when the Bulldogs went on a 10-2 run capped by a 3-pointer from Ivan Prug to lead 20-13. Union extended its lead to 24-16 with 6:30 left in the half. North Georgia stormed back in the final minutes of the first half, closing with a 14-2 run to overtake the Bulldogs. North Georgia led 30-26 at the half. Union's lone basket in the final 6:30 of play was a breakaway dunk from Parks at the 3:29 mark. Both teams put up low shooting percentages in the first half, the Bulldogs at 33 percent and the Nighthawks at 34 percent from the field. North Georgia hit 3-of-9 three pointers and Union was 2-of-13 from long range in the first half. 

North Georgia continued its momentum from the first half, scoring the first four points of the second half as a part of a 6-2 run to extend its lead to 36-28. Union stopped the run spanning two halves with back-to-back 3-pointers from Justin Debuck and Parks to cut the deficit to 36-35. North Georgia responded to extend to its largest lead to this point at nine, 43-34, with 14:37 left in the game. Union tried to rally again, getting a 3-point play from Debuck and a 3-pointer from Jalen Johnson to cut the deficit to five, 45-40. However, North Georgia exploded at this point, running off 14 straight points, including four 3-pointers to lead 59-40 with 8:24 left in the game, its largest of the night. Over the first 12 minutes of the second half, North Georgia was 75 percent from the field (12-16) and 71 percent from three, (5-7).  

Union slowed the Nighthawk run with a 10-2 run including five points from Layne Sarver to cut the deficit to 11. However, North Georgia kept making shots, going back up by 14 at the final media timeout. Debuck scored eight straight points for Union, keeping the Bulldogs withing striking distance late. A seventh 3-pointer of the half for North Georgia was the backbreaker, going back up by 14 points with 1:29 left to play. The final was 69-55

Union was led by Debuck with 14 points including 3-of-4 from long range. Parks added 12 points for the Bulldogs. Five different Bulldogs hit a 3-pointer in the game. Union shot 38 percent from the field, 30 percent (8-27) from 3-point range, and 75 percent (3-4) from the free throw line.

North Georgia was led by Billups and Champion with 11 points each. Smith had a game high 10 assists. Eight players played for North Georgia and all eight scored at least six points, and seven of the eight hit at least one 3-pointer. The Nighthawks shot 47 percent from the field, 65 percent in the second half. The Nighthawks were 46 percent from long range (10-22), including 54 percent (7-13) in the second half. UNG was 63 percent (5-8) from the free throw line.  

Union will step back into conference play with its first GSC road game, Friday, December 2 at Christian Brothers at 7 p.m. All remaining games for Union's men in the regular season will be GSC games. Listen on 93.1 FM or online at www.uuathletics.com/coverage. 

-UNION-