JACKSON, Tenn. – West Alabama defeated Union men's basketball 77-68 on Saturday afternoon in the Fred DeLay Gymnasium after taking an 18-point first-half lead and maintaining a generally firm grip on the game for the final 27 minutes.
 
At times–like when the Bulldogs began the second half on a 20-8 run and narrowed the lead to four–the Tigers (8-5, 5-3 GSC) hung on for dear life, but hang on they did, and West Alabama never let the Bulldogs get within a half dozen in the game's final six minutes.
 
West Alabama scorched Union with a devastating 15-0 run midway through the first half, expanding the Tiger advantage to 30-12. Union won the remainder of the contest 56-48 but never led after the score was six to five in the opening stages.
 
Parker Applegate, who scored 22 in the losing effort, shot 6-8 from the field and 3-4 from three. Applegate has connected on eight of his last nine three-point field goal tries after finishing 5-5 on Thursday. He led the team with nine rebounds.
 
CJ Jackson led all scorers with 24 points in his seventh 20-point night of the season and 12th in double-figures. The graduate student averages 18.0 points per game.
 
Union was positively frigid from range in the first half, entering the locker room with one make among 15 three-point heaves (0.067). The Bulldogs finished 4-25 (.160) from distance, their worst night of the season in the category and the team's lowest percentage since a 2-18 (.111) performance at the hands of Delta State in November 2023.
 
Union suffered its worst free throw shooting night of the GSC season, finishing just 9-16 at the stripe (.667). From the floor, the Bulldogs were 25-61 (.410)–their third-worst clip through 13 games.
 
Seventy-four has been the number by which the Bulldogs have lived and died this season: they're 6-1 when reaching the mark but 1-5 when failing to do so. When Union holds opponents to 73 or fewer, the team is 6-0.
 
Union, now 7-6 (3-4), looks ahead to a road weekend at Valdosta State (11-2, 6-1) and West Florida (4-9, 3-4). The Bulldogs can shake a four-game slump with a 7:00 p.m. tip at The Complex on Thursday.
 
-UNION-