West Alabama prepares for DII NCAA tournament

LIVINGSTON, Ala. (WTOK) - The UWA Tigers brought home their first tournament championship in nearly 40 years on Saturday but now they are shifting their focus to advancing in the DII NCAA tournament.

The Tigers will head to Fort Lauderdale on Saturday to take on Tuskegee in the round of 64. West Alabama heads into the tournament as the number two seed.

Last season UWA was taken out in the first round of the DII tournament but this season has already felt so much different. Head coach, Nick Woodruff, gives credit to his three returning guys. Seniors Justin Allison and Shardarrion Allen and junior CJ Melton, have made a world of a difference for this team.

“Those three have carried us the whole way this year,” said coach Woodruff. “In terms of- we’ve got a bunch of guys that have signed that have carried us in statistics and do things on the court. But in terms of leading us, making sure our guys are prepared, making sure everybody’s focused, raising everybody’s level of play, obviously Shardarrion he is first team all league, has been a three time all conference player, all the stuff he does on the court for us is good. But the stuff they do behind the scenes, that take the pressure off of me, has been the difference in our season.”

Allison has scored 1,078 total points, has 381 rebounds and 148 three pointers. He was named the GSC most outstanding player and the GSC tournament MVP.

Allen has scored 1,022 total points, 206 rebounds and 146 three pointers. He was named first team ALL GSC.

Melton has put up 346 total points, with 131 rebounds.

The Tigers tip-off against Tuskegee on Saturday 2:30 p.m.

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