Box Score HOMEWOOD, Ala. – The University of Alabama in Huntsville men's basketball team's bid to repeat as winners of the Gulf South Conference Basketball Championships came to a tough end on Saturday night as the sixth-ranked and top-seeded Chargers fell to fourth-seeded Valdosta State 76-68. UAH drops to 23-5 with the setback, while the Blazers improve to 19-9.
 
The Chargers will now await their NCAA tournament fate as UAH appears to be a lock for the NCAA South Regional. A selection show will air on NCAA.com on Sunday night at 7:30 p.m., and there will be a viewing party at the Salmon Library on the UAH campus.
 
The Chargers started out strong in the contest as Zane Campbell quickly scored eight of 15 points in the game's first three minutes, a performance that would help UAH hold a 16-8 advantage by the 15:33 mark of the opening stanza.
 
From there the Blazers tore off a 16-2 run in the next five minutes to grab a 22-18 lead, and Valdosta State would maintain the advantage through the rest of the period though UAH would pull even in the contest on four occasions before VSU took a 39-33 lead into the locker room at the half.
 
The lead grew to 10 at 43-33 just under two minutes into the second half, but the Chargers would respond with a 13-5 run that included three triples from Jaime Smith to help the Blue and White pull to within two at 48-46 with 13:17 left.
 
After VSU pushed the lead back out to 52-46, Wayne Dedrick heated up and scored the next six points in the contest to make it 52-52 with 8:57 left, but VSU went on a 9-3 run to grab a 61-55 lead with 6:40 remaining and the team would not relinquish the advantage the rest of the way.
 
Dedrick and Smith both tied for the team lead in points on the night as both finished with 19.
 
The Chargers shot 44.6 percent from the field, while VSU connected on 50.0 percent of its attempts.
 
Josh Sparks led Valdosta State and all scorers in the contest with 27 points as he was 15-for-17 at the free throw line. For the contest, VSU attempted 30 free throws while UAH had just 11 tries at the charity stripe.
 
Valdosta State advances to take on the winner of West Florida and Christian Brothers on Sunday.