HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – For the second consecutive season, the University of Alabama in Huntsville men's basketball team claimed the NCAA Division II South Region Tournament Championship as the Chargers defeated Christian Brothers by a score of 68-59 in front of 2,586 fans at Kelly Court at Spragins Hall on Tuesday night. The win is UAH's 20^th in a row and puts the team's record at 29-3 on the year, while CBU ends the season at 25-7.
 
The victory also marks the 400^th career triumph for Head Coach Lennie Acuff.
 
Junior guard Xavier Baldwin led all UAH scorers with 13 points while the tournament's Most Outstanding Player Josh Magette added 12 points and Zane Campbell netted 10 for the Chargers.
 
Srdjan Boskovic scored 11 while grabbing a team-high 10 rebounds to record his second double-double of the season.
 
“It seemed like every time we needed to make a play, we were able to do it,” said Acuff following the game. “We're very thankful, very humble, and I'm very blessed to be the coach of these guys. They really are something special.”
 
With the game tied at the half at 29-29, Baldwin started the second-half scoring off with a trey to put the home team on top 32-29, but a 9-2 run by the Bucs placed Christian Brothers back ahead and gave CBU its biggest lead of the night at 38-34 with 15:33 remaining in the contest.
 
Over the next six minutes, the lead exchanged hands three times and there were a pair of ties including a 47-47 score with 9:33 left.
 
It was at that point the Chargers went on their most important run of the night.
 
Baldwin ignited the run, scoring six of the team's points in an 11-2 spurt that placed the Chargers in front 58-49 as the Adamsville, Ala., native capped off the stretch by picking the pocket of a Christian Brothers player and turning the turnover into points on fast-break layup.
 
“X is my man,” Acuff stated. “I've got all the faith in the world in X, and I'm just so proud of him.”
 
The Bucs would close the gap to 64-59 with just 30 seconds left in the game, but Magette and Boskovic nailed free throws down the stretch to produce the 68-59 final and send the Chargers on to Kentucky.
 
“We'll have a tremendously tough game,” said Acuff on his team's matchup with Bellarmine in the Elite Eight. “We were one play away from playing them last year, and this is the way the bracket came out.”
 
The first half of Tuesday's contest was an exciting one that featured three ties and four lead changes, but it was the Chargers who enjoyed the advantage through much of the period, and Ronnie Mack produced the largest lead for either squad in the stanza as he connected on back-to-back treys to put the Blue and White up 21-15 with 7:47 remaining.
 
Forcing the game into a deadlock at the half, the Bucs held UAH scoreless in the final two minutes while scoring five points of their own to send the game to the locker room even at 29-29.
 
The first half for the Chargers was keyed by a strong performance by Campbell as he was successful on four of his five field goal attempts en route to scoring eight points.
For the game, the Chargers shot 57.1 percent from the field while holding CBU to just a 40.7 percentage from the floor. UAH also dominated the game inside, outscoring the Bucs in the paint 34-16, and the Blue and White held a 32-21 advantage on the glass.
 
Christian Brothers was led on the night by Scott Dennis who scored a game-high 19 points, while Harry Green chipped in with 14 and Michael Drake added 11.
 
The Chargers advance to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Championship where they will face Midwest Region champion Bellarmine (27-3) on Wednesday, March 21. The final eight teams still playing in Division II men's basketball will compete for a shot at the NCAA title at the Bank of Kentucky Center in Highland Heights, Ky.