LIONS SUFFER 79-65 SETBACK AGAINST LINCOLN MEMORIAL

HARROGATE, Tenn., - The North Alabama men’s basketball team was unable to overcome an early deficit on the road Saturday night in a 79-65 loss to Lincoln Memorial in Gulf South Conference action.

The Railsplitters never trailed in the GSC East Division showdown, using sharp shooting to take an early eight-point lead and a dominating rebounding edge to keep UNA from rallying. LMU shot 49 percent from the floor, including a 5-of-7 mark from three-point range and outrebounded the Lions 55-33.

“We played hard, we just didn’t play very smart at times,” said UNA head coach Bobby Champagne. “Their post guys played extremely well and we didn’t do a good job of boxing them out. They were able to get a lot of rebounds and get second-chance points.”

Of the Railsplitters’ 55 boards, 16 of them came at the offensive end of the court, leading to 14 second-chance points. Three LMU players reached double figures in scoring, led by Stevi e Akridge’s 25 points. Kenneth Fox and Aaron Squirewell added 18 points each for the Railsplitters.

UNA was led by A.J. Gordon’s 23 points. The Lions, however, had no other player reach double figures.

After trailing by eight points in the first half, UNA was able to trim the lead to 30-25 at the half. That lead quickly grew to 14 points at 46-32 in the first six minutes of the second half. From there, the closest the Lions could get would be four points.

A free throw by Gordon at the 6:09 mark made the score 57-53. LMU, however, closed the game on a 22-12 run.

With the loss, UNA drops to 10-7 overall with a 3-2 conference record. LMU (4-13) picked up its fourth win of the season and ups its GSC mark to 2-3.