OAKLAND CITY, Ind. | JJ Kaplan beat the buzzer on Tuesday night, lifting The University of Alabama in Huntsville men's basketball team to a 77-76 road win at Oakland City. The Chargers improve to 6-2 on the season, while OCU falls to 3-4.
Turning Point
-Capping off a ferocious comeback that saw the Chargers erase a 10-point deficit in the game's final three minutes, Kaplan grabbed a defensive rebound with 18 seconds left in the contest and then made his last-second shot fall to lift UAH to the thrilling road win.
Inside the Box Score
-Sam Orf led the Chargers, going 10-for-14 from the field including nailing four treys to score a team-high 26 points, and the sophomore recorded a double-double as he also grabbed 10 rebounds.
-Kaplan also scored in double figures as he poured in 14 to go along with eight boards, and UAH's scoring leaders were rounded out by Tanner Finley and Dalton Barkley who both had 10.
-Seth Swalve finished the night with 10 assists to go along with his seven points and five rebounds.
-For the game, UAH outshot the hosts by a 49.3 percent to 44.3 percent clip, and the Chargers held a wide 44-26 advantage in rebounds.
-UAH outscored the hosts 21-12 in second-chance points, and the Chargers were dominant inside, outscoring OCU 48-18 in the paint.
Inside the Flow
-The Chargers scored the game's first 10 points with an Orf bucket just 2:37 into the game making it 10-0 in favor of the guests, and UAH would maintain a lead until the 9:18 mark of the opening period when a free throw put OCU up for the first time at 26-25.
-The lead then exchanged hands six more times before halftime, and it was the Mighty Oaks who took a 40-38 advantage into the break.
-The first eight minutes of the second half featured another pair of lead changes and three ties, but Oakland City would go in front at 48-47 with 11:49 left on its way to leading by as many as 11 in the stanza.
-The 11-point advantage came with just over four minutes left in the game, and though a Swalve 3-pointer pulled UAH to within eight, another OCU basket put the hosts ahead 72-62 with just three minutes remaining.
-A Barkley put-back with 2:28 on the clock pulled UAH back within single digits before a Finley triple made it 72-67, and after a Barkley block, a Finley rebound, and another Finley 3-pointer, the Chargers were down by just two with 1:23 left in the game.
-A pair of free throws for the Mighty Oaks pushed the deficit back out to four before another Orf 3-pointer with a minute left made it just a one-point game, and after OCU made a shot late in the shot clock fall to go up by three again, Orf would answer immediately to pull UAH back within one at 75-74 with just 20 seconds left to go in the game.
-UAH was called for a foul on the ensuing possession, and after the front end of the one-and-one was missed, Kaplan snagged the rebound and then scored at the other end off a dish from Swalve to create the 77-76 final.
Noteworthy
-It was a career night for Orf who establishes personal-bests in points and rebounds with the 26 and 10, and the double-double is the first of the St. Charles, Missouri, native's career.
-The 10 assists for Swalve match the career-high for the sophomore who also had 10 last year on Feb. 5 against West Alabama.
-Orf has scored in double figures in seven of UAH's eight games and is averaging 17.4 points per game.
-The Chargers shot just two free throws in the game.
Next Time Out
-The Chargers will be off until Saturday when the team returns to conference play with a visit from West Florida. Tip-off at The Stable is slated for 4 p.m.
