DAVIS, Calif. (November 2, 2025) – For the second time in three seasons, the Lions are bringing home a road win over a formidable Mountain West opponent.
The University of North Alabama men's basketball team trailed 15-2 in the first few minutes of its season opener on Monday night before storming back in the second half to earn a 79-75 win over UC Davis inside University Credit Union Center in Davis, Calif.
The Lions (1-0) win their season opener for the fourth time in five seasons, including two road openers in the last three seasons. In 2024, UNA defeated another Mountain West opponent, Air Force, by a 73-57 final in Colorado. Tonight is just the second win in a true road opener since 1981.
Things looked bleak early, as UC Davis (0-1) jumped ahead to a 15-2 lead following an 8-0 run to open the contest. UNA eventually tied things up at 19-19 and tied four more times before the Aggies pulled out to a nine-point lead at the break.
However, UNA decided to overcome that deficit and spoil UCD's first game as a MW member, winning the second half by a 43-30 margin.
With 12 newcomers and just three returners from last season, UNA experimented with a new-look roster and a five-in, five-out rotation for most of the game. All 10 Lions that appeared on Monday scored at least once in a balanced effort, including four players in double figures.
Graduate guard
Quan Lax made the most of his UNA debut, as the former Austin Peay and Freed-Hardeman standout led with a game-high 19 points on 6-9 shooting from the floor and 6-8 from the line. He also assisted on the go-ahead three-pointer to make it 70-69, sank by senior transfer
Caden Harris.
Harris and graduate forward
Drey Carter both scored 11 points in their UNA debuts, combining for five of the team's 10 three-pointers on the night. Harris also had six rebounds, playing in a familiar state after spending the first three years of his college career at Chico State and Point Loma in California.
Senior guard
Mike Evbagharu was one of the key heroes in the second half, scoring 12 points with 10 rebounds for a double-double. This marks back-to-back double-doubles for him, as he recorded one in his last game with Canisius last season against Quinnipiac. The Canadian also had three assists tonight.
Junior
Ansar Osman had a pair of clutch triples in the late second half run, scoring eight points in his school debut. Sophomore
Cortez Graham-Howard, the only returner from last season to log minutes on Monday, added eight points of his own.
Making his rookie debut,
Jarron Talley had five points with two free throws and a triple in the second half.
As a team, UNA finished 24-49 for nearly 50 percent shooting, including a 10-26 mark behind the arc for 38.5 percent. The Lions only attempted two free throws in the first half, making both, then went 19-26 in the second half. UC Davis went 21-30 from the line for the game but just 6-11 in the second half.
The Aggies were led by Jalen Stokes with 18 points and six rebounds.
HOW IT HAPPENED
First Half: Things did not start favorably for the Lions, as UC Davis took control with an early 9-0 run that grew to a 15-2 lead in the first five minutes. UNA responded with an 11-0 run with back-to-back scores by Lax and back-to-back triples from Carter. A three-pointer from Harris tied it up for the first time at 19-19, then UNA took its first lead at 25-23 on a layup from Lax. Graham-Howard tied it up two more times with two layups, but UCD pulled out to a 45-36 lead at the break. Lax led all players at the half with 11 points. The scoring different came at the free throw line, as UCD went 15-19 and UNA went just 2-2.
Second Half: The foul differential took a drastic shift early in the second half, as UC Davis committed six of the first seven fouls before the first media timeout. UNA had 13 more free throws made in the second half, which ultimately led to a 13-point margin to erase a nine-point deficit for the four-point win. The Lions started on a 10-3 run to pull within two, but UCD clang to its narrow lead for most of the second half. A three-pointer by Osman led to a 65-64 lead for UNA — its first lead since going up 25-23 midway into the first half. Harris hit a later three to snatch back the lead with 2:02 to go, then Lax hit a fast break layup on a steal by Carter to give UNA all the momentum. The lead stayed with UNA from there, as Evbagharu, Talley and Lax made free throws to ice the game.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
- UNA has now won four buy games in the last three seasons, including wins over Air Force, East Carolina, San Francisco and UC Davis.
- UNA will play eight new opponents this season, including UC Davis. The Lions are now 1-0 against the Aggies and 2-0 against the Mountain West all-time.
- The 19 points for Lax is the most in a UNA debut since Tim Smith Jr. scored 19 in 2023 against Blue Mountain College. It was also the most in a UNA road debut since Kendarius Smith in 2017 with 20 points against Tampa.
- UNA won every shooting category with a nine-percent margin in field goals, a six-percent margin in three-pointers and a five-percent margin in free throws. Both teams made 21 free throws, but UNA had two more triples (10-8) and one more field goal (24-23).
- UNA slightly won the boards with a 34-31 advantage, including 28-21 on the defensive end.
- UNA had 32 points off the bench, including 19 from Lax in the second wave. UC Davis had 19 bench points as a team.
- UNA did not have any of its shots blocked, but came up with three blocks with one each from Evbagharu, Graham-Howard and newcomer Julius Clark.
- Despite losing, UC Davis led for over 32 minutes. UNA led for just 3:58, including when the clock hit 0:00.
COMING UP NEXT
The Lions will host an old Gulf South Conference rival on Thursday, Nov. 5 as Union (TN) will be the opponent for UNA's home opener. Tipoff is set for 6:30 p.m. inside CB&S Bank Arena in Florence, Ala.
For more information on North Alabama Athletics, visit www.roarlions.com and follow UNA Athletics on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
