TAMPA, Fla. – Saint Leo men's basketball bounced back to take down Gulf South Conference opponent North Alabama 82-77 inside the Bob Martinez Athletic Center Sunday afternoon.
 
The Lions were paced Sunday by DeAndre King who scored 20 points, 15 in the first half. King shot 4-for-6 from downtown while adding five boards, two assists and two steals to his stat line.
 
Isaiah Hill finished the day with 17 points on 7-of-12 shooting from the field with a 3-for-6 mark from the charity stripe. Kyran McClure came off the bench and added 12 points in 17 minutes of action. McClure finished 4-for-7 from the field, including 2-for-4 from downtown. McClure added two points from the free throw line.
 
"To get back on the winning side is nice, but it's never easy against these teams from the GSC," Head Coach Vince Alexander mentioned. "Having DeAndre [King] and Isaiah [Hill] lead us in back-to-back games is a good thing. Kyran [McClure] adding 12 points today as well was a good thing to see but if we can get Tyreece [Brice] and the rest of our players going, we can compete with anyone."
 
"We still have to take care of the ball and rebound," Alexander added. "Yesterday we had 13 turnovers and lost by two, today we had 15 but came out on top, that doesn't happen often. We have two days to get in the gym before we open up conference play Wednesday."
 
The Basics
Final Score: Saint Leo 82, North Alabama 77
Location: University of Tampa | Tampa, Fla.
Records: Saint Leo 2-3 | North Alabama 0-2

How It Happened…
1H |  North Alabama would start the game out with the first two points, two free throws with 19:46 to play. Saint Leo would control the next 11 minutes, going out to its largest lead of 11 points, 20-9, on a three-pointer from DeAndre King, before the UNA Lions tied the game at 22-22 with 8:50 showing on the clock. UNA and Saint Leo would trade buckets before the Green and Gold could push their lead back to five, 29-24, on a good free throw from Isaiah Hill. North Alabama wouldn't stay quiet as they made a run and got within one, 31-30, and even took the lead, 32-31. Both teams would exchange the lead for the next minute before King hit another three-pointer to put Saint Leo on top, 37-35 with 3:02 remaining. Saint Leo would close the half on a 10-4 run to head into the break up eight, 47-39. The Lions closed the first half on 100-percent shooting, going 6-for-6 in field goals made. DeAndre King led the Lions in scoring in the first half with 15 points going 6-of-7 from the field including 3-for-4 from downtown. | Saint Leo 47-39 |
 
2H | Saint Leo came out of the break and picked up where the left off, scoring points early and often. Tyreece Brice came down the court and lobbed a ball up for Isaiah Hill where Hill slammed it home to push the lead to 10. The Lions would continue to control the game before North Alabama could cut it to just a four point game on a dunk of their own from Trenton Clayton, 54-50 with 15 minutes to play. Saint Leo would push the margin to 12 with 8:38 on the clock after a 13-5 run, capped by a Jesse Huff three pointer. UNA would close to four again with 1:56 showing on the board before the Lions raced to the other end of the floor as Hill tossed it to an open Drago Popovic who put it down to keep the Green and Gold out in front by six. After North Alabama got within three, 77-74, UNA wouldn't crack the four point bubble for the remainder of the game as both teams shot 100-percent for their last field goals; UNA 6-for-6 and Saint Leo 3-for-3. The Lions would maintain their lead with free throws from Junior Searcy, pushing it to 81-75 with 10-ticks left. Searcy would hit one more free throw with five seconds to play, as the Lions went on for the five-point win.  

Points to Note

• Saint Leo snapped their two-game skid with their five-point win over UNA to move to 2-4.
• The Lions shot 50.8-percent from the field (30-59) with a 60-percent free throw percentage (7-18).
• Three players scored in double-digits led with DeAndre King's 20 points. King went 8-for-12 from the field with 4-for-6 from downtown.
• Tyreece Brice paced the Lions with eight assists on the day.
• Isaiah Hill and Kyran McClure turned in double-digit points with 17 and 12, respectively.

For North Alabama

• North Alabama dropped their second straight season to an SSC opponent.
• The Lions saw all five starters score double-digits led by Sharwyn McGee with 20. Kendall Stafford added 14 while Tavaras Tolliver had 11 and Kendarius Smith and Trenton Clayton chipped in with 10 points apiece.
• Jeff Hodge added eight rebounds and eight points in the loss.
• UNA shot 50% (28-56) from the field; 40% (6-15) from downtown and 75% (15-20) from the free throw line.

Saint Leo will return home on Nov. 15 to open up the home portion and Sunshine State Conference portion of its schedule when the Lions welcome in Florida Southern at 7:30 p.m.

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