BIRMINGHAM, Ala. | For the fourth time in five years, The University of Alabama in Huntsville men's basketball team is heading to the championship game of the Gulf South Conference tournament after defeating West Alabama 82-69 on Saturday night in the 2019 VisitSpaceCoast.com GSC Championship semifinals at the Pete Hanna Center.
 
UAH improves to 24-6 with the victory, while UWA falls to 22-7.
 
The Chargers will battle Delta State in the championship game on Sunday, and tip-off for that game is slated for 3:30 p.m. UAH swept the season series from the Statesmen, winning 70-58 in Cleveland, Mississippi, on Jan. 24 and 68-57 at home on Feb. 2.
 
The trio of sophomore that have led the Chargers all season once again paced the team with JJ Kaplan going off for 31 points, while both Sam Orf and Seth Swalve scored 19.
 
Ricky Dunnaway had 18 to lead West Alabama.
 
The Chargers fell behind early, with UWA going up 7-2 at the 17:41 mark of the opening half, but an old-fashioned 3-point play from Kaplan followed by a long-range bucket from Dalton Barkley gave UAH its first advantage of the night at 8-7 a minute and a half later.
 
After the Tigers briefly regained the advantage, UAH then ripped off an 11-2 advantage to go ahead by eight at 19-11 with 11:21 remaining in the half, and the lead would grow to as many as nine in the period thanks in part to Kaplan going 7-for-9 from the floor on his way to scoring 18 first half points.
 
UWA would, however, cut the deficit to just three and had a chance to tie it towards the end of the half, but a defensive rebound by Max Shulman with six seconds left gave the Chargers the last possession of the half, allowing Orf to hit a buzzer-beating triple to put UAH ahead 37-31 at the break.
 
The Chargers would then push the lead all the way out to 17 in the second half when Tanner Finley buried a triple at the 10:43 mark to give the Chargers a 60-43 lead, but the Tigers would eventually pull back within eight at 70-62 with just 3:27 remaining in the contest.
 
UAH would then proceed to seal the game, however, by going 10-for-10 from the free throw line in the closing minutes while holding UWA to just seven more points.
 
For the contest, UAH shot 54.2 percent including an 11-for-19 showing from beyond the arc, and the team held West Alabama to a shooting mark of just 41.9 percent. 
 
The Chargers also won the rebounding battle, grabbing 32 to UWA's 28 to improve to 19-0 on the season when outrebounding the opponent, and UAH was led on the glass by Kaplan who had eight rebounds.
 
Malik Cook-Stroupe led the Chargers with four assists.