UAH’s magical March journey concludes with semifinal setback

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The University of Alabama in Huntsville men’s basketball team saw its magical March run come to a close on Sunday as the seventh-seeded Chargers fell 82-67 to No. 3 seed Embry-Riddle in the semifinals of the NCAA Division II South Regional held on the campus of Nova Southeastern. UAH ends the season at 23-11, while ERAU advances at 24-9.

This was UAH’s eighth trip to the regional semifinal, and the season marks the 18th time that the Chargers have finished with 20 or more wins, including the 10th time in the past 13 seasons.

Under head coach John Shulman – who completed his third season at the helm – UAH has now gone 64-20, winning two Gulf South Conference tournament titles and reaching the NCAA tournament in all three seasons.

UAH was led on the evening by Max Shulman who scored 17 after going 6-for-9 from the field including five 3-pointers, and he also had six rebounds, two steals, and a block.

Chaney Johnson wrapped up his second season in Huntsville with a double-double showing of 15 points and 10 rebounds while also handing out a team-high four assists, and he closes the year second on the team in scoring with 16.8 points per game on 58.6 percent shooting.

CJ Williamson finished the year atop the UAH offensive ledger, averaging 17.0 points per contest after transferring to Huntsville prior to the season, and he was especially impressive in this stretch of games that saw UAH win eight straight before falling on Sunday, averaging more than 21 points per game over the nine-game run.

Rounding out UAH’s double-figure scoring contingent on Sunday, Jack Kostel scored 13 and also collected eight rebounds.

All – and each of their teammates – are slated to return in the Blue and White next season as the Chargers had no seniors on this year’s squad.

The Chargers started out strong against ERAU, twice leading by nine before building up a 25-15 advantage at the 8:26 mark of the opening half following a Williamson bucket, but the Eagles would respond with a 12-0 run to briefly go in front before UAH carried a 40-35 lead into the halftime break.

The lead would once again grow to as many as 10 in the second half when Kostel nailed a triple at the 17:29 mark of the period to make it 48-38, but a 17-3 run for ERAU over the next five minutes proved to be the difference as the Chargers would not be able to regain the advantage as the Eagles led by as much as 20 later in the period.

For the game, UAH shot 41.8 percent while holding ERAU to a 41.5 percent mark, but a 21-7 difference in second-chance points after the Eagles outrebounded the Chargers by a 42-33 margin ended up being a significant difference in the game.