FLORENCE, Ala. (February 26, 2025) – For the first time in school history, North Alabama is Atlantic Sun Conference Regular Season Champions.
The Lions celebrated five seniors and finished the regular season with a 74-69 win over Queens inside CB&S Bank Arena on Wednesday. With the win, UNA wins a share of the 2025 ASUN Regular Season Title.
To add more history to the win, UNA head coach Tony Pujol won his 100th career game as a head coach. Pujol is UNA's only Division I men's basketball coach, taking over in 2018-19 seven seasons ago.
UNA secures the No. 2 seed for the 2025 ASUN Championship Tournament next week, tying Lipscomb with a 14-4 conference record. Lipscomb holds the tiebreaker in the standings and will have the No. 1 seed. Both schools will host first round and quarterfinal games.
There were seven ties and two lead changes in a tight game, but a two possession lead in the final five minutes grew to eight in the final minute, allowing UNA to ice the game. As Queens missed the final shot down five, the crowd erupted. UNA celebrated on the court with its passionate fanbase and cut down the nets.
Junior Jacari Lane closed the regular season with 20 points, two assists, two rebounds and two steal, making one last push for ASUN Player of the Year. Senior Taye Fields finished with 18 points and nine boards, while junior Donte Bacchus was the first half spark plug with 16 points, including 14 in the opening frame.
Fifth year senior Will Soucie ended his final regular season game with 12 points.
Soucie and Fields were joined by Blake Floyd, Dallas Howell and Daniel Ortiz in the senior celebration. Howell intends to return next season on a medical redshirt.
HOW IT HAPPENED
First Half: The first half was extremely competitive, as the Lions held a slim 39-36 lead. The final tie of the game came at the 1:34 mark of the half at 33-33. Jacari Lane broke the tie with a three-pointer. Donte Bacchus led the Lions with 15 points in the half.
Second Half: The Lions led the whole way in the second half, setting the tone with back-to-back dunks from Taye Fields and Corneilous Williams while Queens went on a four minute scoring drought to open the second half.
COMING UP NEXT
The Lions are the No. 2 seed in the 2025 ASUN Championship and will host the winner of No. 7 Austin Peay and No. 8 North Florida on Monday, March 3 at 6 p.m. inside CB&S Bank Arena. APSU and UNF will play the opening round at CB&S Bank Arena on Sunday at 6 p.m.
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