HUNTSVILLE | With Kelly Court at Spragins Hall open to full capacity for the first time since March 2020, the No. 20 University of Alabama in Huntsville men's basketball team delighted its home crowd on Saturday with a 77-64 victory over visiting Columbus State at the 2021 Bill Penney Classic. The Chargers improve to 3-2 on the season with their straight victory, while CSU falls to 3-1.
 
Four Chargers scored in double figures in the contest led by redshirt freshman Luke Burnett who knocked down five 3-pointers on his way to scoring 20 points, while CJ Williamson scored 16 while grabbing 13 rebounds for his second double-double of the season.
 
Williamson also dished out a team-high five assists.
 
Joining that pair was Max Shulman who scored 16 by matching Burnett's five triples while also recording eight rebounds, and also registering eight boards was Chaney Johnson who chipped in with 15.
 
UAH would score the first basket of the game, but from there the lead would exchange hands three times before a 14-7 run for the visitors provided them with what proved to be their largest lead of the half at 19-11 just before the midway point of the opening half. 
 
The Chargers would score seven straight to knot the contest at 19-19, but another push from Columbus State made it a 35-28 deficit for UAH at the halftime break.
 
After the Cougars buried a 3 in the first minute of the second half to go up 10, UAH would play perhaps its best basketball of the season so far, scoring 19 straight while shooting 7-of-8 including a perfect 4-for-4 from downtown in flipping the contest into its favor at 47-38 with 15:31 left in the contest.
 
A Shulman 3-pointer at the 11:51 mark lifted UAH to a double-digit advantage for the first time in the game at 56-46, and the lead would grow to as many as 19 as the home team cruised down the stretch.
 
UAH finished the night shooting 40.8 percent while holding CSU to a 35.4 field goal percentage, and the Chargers outrebounded the visitors by a 49-37 margin and used that to build up a 20-8 advantage in second-chance points.
 
The Blue and White also was dominant inside the paint, outscoring the Cougars by a 38-12 difference.
 
Play at the 2021 Bill Penney Classic wraps up on Sunday with Columbus State taking on Montevallo at 2 p.m. before UAH takes on Fisk at 4 p.m.