UWG returns to GSC final after 12 year absence

3/4/2016 9:21:59 PM

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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Iakeem Alston scored 25 and Steph Branch surged with 15 of his 17 points coming in the second half Friday to rally No. 2 West Georgia past No. 3 Union, 71-68, in the 2015-16 VisitSpaceCoast.com Gulf South Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament semifinals at the Pete Hanna Center.

BY THE NUMBERS

Teams	1	2	Total
Union (20-10)	38	30	68
West Georgia (21-8)	30	41	71

Game Leaders	UWG	Union
Points	Iakeem Alston \| 25 Steph Branch \| 17	Roy Bullock \| 17 Jordan Montgomery \| 14 Ashanti Day \| 13 KC Goodwin \| 11
Rebounds	Shannon Fowler \| 10	Bilal Richardson \| 8 Dakota Holtzclaw \| 8
Assists	Devin Schmidt \| 5	John Fletcher \| 3 Jeff Hodge \| 3

KEY MOMENTS
Union led for the first 37 minutes of action, including a 14-point lead, 49-35, with 15 minutes to play. Over the next seven minutes, West Georgia built a 14-4 run to make it a two-possession game, 53-49, on a Steph Branch 3-pointer. Branch scored eight of the Wolves’ next 12 points to pull UWG within a point, 62-61, with 3:27 to play following an Iakeem Alston steal and Branch layup. Alston followed with an and-one dunk to give West Georgia its first lead, 64-62 with 3:05 to play. A minute later, Marcus Dortch was fouled as he drained a 3 and completed the 4-point play to give West Georgia a two-possession edge, 68-64, lead with 2:14 to play. Branch added another 3 with just over a minute to play to make it a 71-66 game Wolves lead. Union’s Roy Bullock cut it to three, 71-68. Union had a chance for the last shot after Bullock grabbed a defensive board with 11 seconds to play, but Christian Houston stripped him at the top of the key.

QUOTABLE
“That’s the beauty of this team. They keep fighting, and then all of a sudden, around the eight minute mark, you could see fatigue starting to set in on the Union side and our enthusiasm started to build. We started making some shots, and the next think you know, ball game on. It took us probably 32 minutes to kick it in tonight, but it doesn’t matter. We got a win against a quality team that’s probably going to be in the NCAA Tournament. What a way to get ready for the NCAA Tournament. That was a tough challenge tonight.” – Michael Cooney, West Georgia head coach.

NOTABLE
- The Bulldogs shot 44 percent from the field in the first half, including 6-of-10 (60 percent) from 3-point range.
- West Georgia increased its shooting from 33.3 percent in the first half to 51.6 percent in the second half.
- UWG advances to its fifth GSC Championship final and first since 2004. The Wolves won the title in 1987 and 2002.
-UWG collected its first win in the Pete Hanna Center after loses to Alabama Huntsville, North Alabama and West Alabama the last three seasons.
-West Georgia extended its win streak to eight games.
- West Georgia is ranked No. 5 in the NCAA Division II South Region Rankings, while Union is ranked No. 7.

UP NEXT
West Georgia waits the winner of No. 1 Alabama Huntsville and No. 5 Delta State for the GSC Tournament championship Saturday, March 5 at 4 p.m. CT on ESPN3.