HUNTSVILLE | The No. 11 University of Alabama in Huntsville men's basketball team is set to host No. 23 Lee in the semifinals of the 2021 Gulf South Conference Men's Basketball Championship on Friday at Kelly Court at Spragins Hall. Tip-off between the West Division No. 1 seed UAH and the No. 2 seed from the East Division LU is slated for 7 p.m.
 
General admission tickets for the contest have sold out, and as of the publication time of this release, only a select few tickets for UAH students remained available. 
 
The Chargers earned their sixth appearance in the semifinals of the tournament in the past seven years after knocking off the East's fourth seed Montevallo 82-62 on Tuesday night in Huntsville. Kerney Lane led the Chargers in that contest, scoring a career-best 20 from a perfect 9-for-9 showing from the floor to go along with 10 rebounds, while Sam Orf has 19 points, six rebounds, and seven assists in the victory.
 
The Flames visit the Rocket City with a 14-4 record and as winners of their last four including a 66-63 win over West Alabama on Tuesday at home. Quay Kennedy paced Lee in the win as he scored 19 and had seven boards, and Kennedy has also led Friday night's guests all season as he's averaging 17.7 points and 6.1 rebounds per contest.
 
Kennedy was the East Division Player of the Year, creating a match-up between the top two players in the league this year as Orf was honored as the West Division Player of the Year.
 
Another layer of intrigue to the game, Friday night will mark a rematch of last year's semifinal contest in Birmingham. In that game, the Flames would lead by 10 at halftime and by as many as 11 early in the second half before UAH would mount a comeback and ultimate earn a 72-63 victory en route to the championship game.
 
JJ Kaplan had 23 in that contest to lead the Chargers.
 
This will be the 20th meeting all-time between the two teams with the Chargers winning 14 of the previous 19 contests including four of the last five.
 
Friday night's winner will advance to the championship game which will be held on Sunday at 1 p.m. on the campus of the University of Montevallo.