FLORENCE, Ala. (December 10, 2023) – The University of North Alabama men's basketball team led Morehead State 37-30 at halftime, but stumbled in the second half as Morehead State prevailed 86-77 on Sunday afternoon inside CB&S Bank Arena in Florence.
The loss snaps an impressive 15-game home winning streak against non-conference opponents that spans over three seasons. In fact, UNA's last non-conference home loss came exactly three years ago today against Troy.
The Eagles extended a five-game win streak to improve to 7-3, while the Lions suffer their first home loss of the season and move to an even 5-5 record. Today also marked Morehead State's first win in the all-time series after UNA won the first two in 2019 and 2022.
Despite the loss, two Lions notches season-highs with sophomore
Jacari Lane scoring 28 points with four assists. Lane — who had his jersey retired by Lee High School in Huntsville this past weekend — was one shy of his career-high of 29 points.
Graduate forward
Tim Smith Jr. had his second double-double of the season, scoring a season-high 21 points to go with 10 rebounds in an impressive performance.
With 16:46 to go in the game, senior forward
Damian Forrest scored a layup through contact and reached 1,000 career points. He becomes the fourth Lion on the active roster to reach this milestone and the third this season. He joins Smith Jr., senior
KJ Johnson and junior
Marco Foster — who did it last time out against Rust College with a team-high 19 points.
Forrest went on to finish one point shy of a double-double with nine points and 10 rebounds. Six other players scored for the Lions.
Morehead State was led by four players in double figure scoring, including Jordan Lathon with 26 points. The Eagles shot 30-60 from the floor as a team and 11-23 behind the arc to surge ahead in the second half.
HOW IT HAPPENED
First Half: The energy was alive early, as both teams were shooting just above 42 percent at the end of the first half. Morehead State was the early aggressors, jumping out to a 7-2 lead before UNA went on a 6-0 run to lead 8-7 at the first media timeout. There were four tie scores and three lead changes in the first half, but the momentum shifted toward UNA in the final six minutes. Down 25-23, the Lions went on a 10-1 run to lead 33-26. The seven point margin remained in tact at the end of the half — 37-30. Lane had eight of the last 10 points for UNA before the half ended.
Second Half: The game went on to have five more lead changes in the second half, but the final one came in the midst of a 6-0 run for Morehead State with 13:43 to go to make it 50-45. The Lions were able to get back within two on a three from Smith Jr., but the Eagles had an answer for every UNA basket. The Morehead State lead stayed in single digits until the final three minutes. The Eagles went 19-34 in the second half for 56 percent, while UNA shot 11-32 for 34.4 percent. MSU also made up for the heavy rebound defecit in the first half with a 21-18 advantage on the boards in the final half. Lathon scored 20 of his 26 points in the second half, while Lane had 14 for UNA.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
- Today marks UNA's first home loss of the season and just the third non-conference home loss in six seasons. The other two were Jacksonville State (2018) and Troy (2020).
-
Morehead State the first non-conference opponent from outside the state of Alabama to beat UNA in Florence since the Lions jumped to Division I in 2018.
- UNA is now 26-3 in non-conference home games under Coach Tony Pujol.
- Both teams shot north of 42 percent in the first half, but Morehead State kicked into another gear in the second half and went 19-34 from the floor and 8-14 behind the arc.
- UNA had a clear-cut advantage on the boards — 42-34 — and led 24-13 on rebounds in the first half.
- Lane's 28 points came on 10-20 shooting from the field. Both the 28 points and 10 field goals are new season-highs for any UNA player this season. He also went 7-7 at the line.
- UNA had a 20-14 advantage in first half paint scoring, but Morehead State went on to win the paint 36-32.
- The Lions had a 21-11 advantage in second chance scoring and a 20-10 advantage in offensive rebounds.
- Neither bench had more than 11 points, getting heavy production from its starters.
- Neither team had more than six turnovers, including UNA with just five.
- The Eagles had eight blocks to set a new season-high. UNA's season-high is also eight blocks, set against Tennessee Tech just before the end of November.
- Smith Jr. was UNA's leader behind the arc, going 3-5 from downtown.
COMING UP NEXT
On Wednesday, the Lions will hit the road once again to face Charleston Southern. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. in Charleston, S.C.
For more information on North Alabama Athletics, visit www.roarlions.com and follow UNA Athletics on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
