ROME, Ga. - The Union University men's basketball team posted a73-61 win at Shorter University Thursday night. Union improved to 21-6 overall and 15-4 in the Gulf South Conference. Shorter dropped to 5-19 on the season and 2-17 in league play. 

The win for Union guaranteed its highest GSC Tournament seed in the team's history in the league. Union has been a 3-seed once but will now be either the first or second seed in next week's tournament. 

More history for the Bulldogs is their 21st win of the season, matching its highest win total since joining the GSC in 2012-13. Union had 21 wins in 2015-16. The 15 league wins is the highest since joining the GSC. 

Union is receiving votes in this week's D2SIDA Media Poll. 

The win over Shorter keeps Union tied for first with one regular season game remaining. Union and West Alabama sit at 15-4 in league play. Union has one game left, a road game at Lee. Lee currently sits in third place in the GSC. West Alabama plays at Mississippi College, the 12th place team and a team that is officially eliminated from postseason play. 

The game featured the league leader playing the last place team in the conference, and Shorter was up for playing spoiler early. in a close first half, Shorter took its largest lead of the game, 28-21 with 5:34 left in the first half. Union rallied to lead 32-21 at the break. 

The second half continued with close play. Union never trailed in the second half but could not pull away in the early going. Shorter stayed close and tied the game at 48-48 and again 50-50 with 9:41 left. Union finally was able to get some distance from the Hawks. A 12-3 run, including eight straight points gave Union a nine-point lead with 4:38 left. Union claimed its largest lead of 14 points, 71-57, with 1:21 left in the game. 

Union was led by Tyree Boykin with 23 points, including 2-for-2 from 3-point range. Boe Nguidjol with 15 points and 11 rebounds. Tylandrius Parks added 14 points and Jeremiah Littlepage added 10 points. Union shot 49 percent from the field, 32 percent (6-19) from long range, and 94 percent (15-16) from the free throw line. 

Shorter was led by Atchley with 15 points, Knight Jr. with 12 points, and Wicox Jr. with 10 points. The Hawks shot 44 percent from the field, 26 percent (7-27) from 3-point range, and 57 percent (8-14) from free throw line. 

Up next for Union is the season finale at Lee, Saturday at 3 p.m. Listen locally on 101.5 FM or online at www.uuathletics.com/coverage. 

-UNION-