Box Score PENSACOLA, Fla. – Using a strong second half to cruise to victory, the No. 4 University of Alabama in Huntsville men's basketball team defeated Tuskegee 81-66 at the West Florida Thanksgiving Classic on Friday afternoon. The Chargers improve to 3-1 with the triumph.
 
The Chargers struggled through much of the opening 20 minutes, trailing by as many as nine points as Tuskegee hit a pair of free throws to establish a 20-11 lead with 6:14 left in the half. The Chargers shot just 27.3 percent for the period, and eight UAH turnovers turned into nine Tuskegee points in the frame.
 
Providing his team a spark, Ronnie Mack took a pass from Conner Blasi and buried it from long-range 30 seconds later for the team's first trey of the game, and the sophomore added another 3-pointer at the 4:02 mark to cut the team's deficit to 22-17.
 
A Will Carr bucket with 1:40 left in the opening period represented the last points either team would score as the game was tilted 24-19 in Tuskegee's favor at the break.
 
The momentum generated by Mack continued into the second half as he scored UAH's first five points of the period to allow an Xavier Baldwin jumper at the 18:33 mark to create a 26-26 tie, and Jaime Smith knocked down a shot from distance less than a minute later to put the Chargers on top 29-26 – a lead that UAH would not relinquish.
 
After Tuskegee pulled to within two at 31-29 with 16:10 on the clock, UAH ripped off a 16-5 run over the next 5:40 to pull ahead by a comfortable 13-point margin, and the Golden Tigers could only close the gap to single-digits once as the advantage ballooned to as many as 20 points for the Chargers down the stretch.
 
After struggling from the floor in the first period, the Blue and White shot at a scorching 69.0 percent clip in the second half as it went 20-for-29 including a 7-for-12 performance from 3-point land. The tremendous performance in the final 20 minutes helped the Chargers outshoot the opposition by a 51.0 percent to 37.1 percent clip for the contest.
 
Mack led the Chargers on the night with 16 points including three treys, and he joined Zane Campbell to pace the squad on the glass with six rebounds.  Also scoring in double figures, Blasi added 13 and Smith chipped in with 11 including matching the three triples.
 
True freshman Greg Gardner picked up six of the team's 21 assists.
 
The team will return to action on Saturday when the Chargers take on Albany State at 4 p.m. in wrapping up play at the tournament.