JACKSONVILLE, Fla.- The Jacksonville men's basketball team defeated the North Alabama Lions 67-63 in an absolute thriller on Saturday afternoon.

Bryce Workman, in his second game back from injury, absolutely made his presence felt on Saturday for the Dolphins, (13-12, 4-7 ASUN) as he recorded his fifth career and second double-double of the season. The Tampa, Florida, native finished with 13 points and 14 rebounds. Stephon Payne III added his team-leading third double-double of the season as he finished with 11 points and 10 rebounds. The sophomore transfer has been contributing more as the conference season has worn on; today's contest was his second double-double in a week's time. The two players with a double-double mark the first time since December 30th that the Dolphins accomplished such a feat.
 
Jacksonville's bigs contributed all afternoon, as Payne, Deejuan Pruitt, and Workman combined for 32 rebounds.
 
The first half was on par with ASUN play as any game this season, with both sides hitting 11 shots and the half ending tied at 31 apiece. Robert McCray V had 10 points in the first half alone, while North Alabama got eight points from Jacari Lane, KJ Johnson, and Dallas Howell. Gyasi Powell, Workman, and Jarius Cook also added five points each to the cause.
 
North Alabama came out firing from deep in the second half, hitting its first four shot attempts from three to help take a 10-point lead less than four minutes into the half. The Dolphins would have none of that though, erasing the 10-point deficit with Zach Bell slamming an alley-oop pass from Jarius Cook, and Gyasi Powell getting involved in the chaos with a deep triple, with Workman getting the screen assist, to tie the game at 47 with 11 minutes to play.
 
Both sides missed tough shots on both ends of the court for the next two minutes, and Powell again hit from deep to give JU its first lead of the second half with just over nine minutes to play. The Jacksonville defense put on the clamps as well; as the offense began to find a rhythm in the second half, the defense locked down the hot UNA offense to get the Dolphins on a 16-3 run. The Lions did not score a single bucket for over eight minutes during that stretch, getting their three points off free throws.
 
The Dolphins continued to fire on all cylinders. While the threes may not have been falling for JU, they outrebounded UNA 45-26, which included 21 offensive rebounds to UNA's seven. The Lions recorded just two offensive rebounds, a huge testament to the Dolphins' bigs putting in work down the stretch.
 
North Alabama, who entered the game winning their last five, kept the game close as it wore on, but two made free throws from McCray with three seconds left iced the game and saw the Dolphins win their second in a row.

UP NEXT

Jacksonville enters its last week of travel in the regular season next week with a swing to Atlanta and Charlotte. JU will take on Kennesaw State on Wednesday, February 14 with tipoff slated for 7 pm. The game can be streamed on ESPN+ or listened to on the radio on 1010XL.
 
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