LIVINGSTON, Ala. | The No. 21 University of Alabama in Huntsville men's basketball team held on for a significant road conference win on Thursday night, defeating host West Alabama 65-61 in front of a raucous Pruitt Hall crowd. The Chargers improve to 14-3 (6-3 Gulf South Conference), while the Tigers slip to 12-4 (5-3 GSC).
 
Turning Point
-With the Chargers clinging to a one-point lead with less than a minute left in the game, JJ Kaplan drove the lane, laying it up and in to give UAH a three-point cushion as the guests would hang on for the lead.
 
Inside the Box Score
- Kaplan led the Chargers in the victory, registering a double-double with 19 points off an 8-for-12 shooting performance to go along with a team-best 11 rebounds while also adding two assists.
-Also scoring in double figures was Max Shulman who hit his first four 3-point attempts en route to tallying 12 and grabbing five boards.
-Kerney Lane rounded out UAH's double-figure contingent as he scored 10, had five boards, handed out two assists, and recorded one steal.
-For the contest, UAH shot 56.5 percent and was 47.1 percent from 3-point land, while UWA connected on just 37.5 percent of its tries and after going 7-for-17 from long-range in the first half, finished just 9-for-31 in the game.
-Rebounding in the contest was even at 31 for each team.
-UAH held a significant advantage inside, outscoring the Tigers 36-12 in the paint, and the reserves for the Chargers outscored UWA's by a 22-8 margin.
 
Inside the Flow
-The Chargers opened up a four-point advantage early with a Sam Orf steal and dunk made it 8-4 just 2:27 into the contest, but UWA would have a response, and at the 11:42 mark of the half, the Tigers had opened up a 20-11 lead.
-UAH would whittle its deficit down, however, and a Lane layup on the last possession of the first half tied the contest at 35-35.
-The Chargers then proceeded to hold West Alabama to just four points in the first 5:29 of the second half, and a Shulman trey capped off the strong run to give the guests a 49-39 advantage.
-Not going down without a fight, the Tigers would claw back and with just 1:37 left in the ballgame, the UAH cushion was just one at 59-58.
-On the next possession, Seth Swalve made a layup fall to put the Chargers back up by three, but two more UWA free throws created another one-point difference 61-60 with 49 seconds remaining.
-Kaplan then made his biggest bucket of the night with 22 seconds left to make it 63-60, and after UWA hit a free throw with one second remaining, Malik Cook-Stroupe iced the contest with a pair of his own at the stripe to create the 65-61 final.
 
Noteworthy
-Kaplan now has six double-doubles on the year including two in the past three games, and he now has 14 for his career. 
-This is the seventh time this season that Shulman has hit at least four 3-pointers, and he's now shooting a team-high 45.8 percent from beyond the arc.
-UAH is the seventh team to score more than 60 points against a West Alabama defense that is giving up 56.3 points per game.
 
Noteworthy
-The Chargers will take off the weekend before taking on Delta State in the friendly confines at Kelly Court at Spragins Hall on Thursday. Tip-off is slated for 7:30 p.m.