UM Makes History With Regular- and Post-Season Sweep Of The Badgers 

WESTWEGO, La. - Men's basketball history was made as the University of Mobile (25-9) swept the regular- and post-season series with Spring Hill College (17-18), defeating the Badgers 61-58 in semi-final action of the GCAC Conference Tournament held at the Alario Center in Westwego, Louisiana.

It was a piece of history that the Badgers nearly kept off the record books as they fought back in the final moments to steal back a game that they had relinquished control of after taking a 30-22 halftime lead. It was ironically a piece of history that Rams' head coach Joe Niland prevented ten years ago, as the then Spring Hill College head coach defeated Mobile in the conference tournament in 1994 despite being swept by them during the regular season.

Holding a 60-55 lead, Mobile saw Spring Hill begin the classic, yet often fruitless, process of fouling to close the gap and get back in the game. Only this time it was executed with near perfection as Mobile's Gabe Feagin missed the front-end of a two-shot double-bonus with less than ten second remaining.

Spring Hill's Nate Williams, who was deadly from behind the arc all night long, going 4-of-7 from downtown, was fouled by Gabe Feagin, sending the senior to the charity stripe to shoot three with four second left.

Missing the first, and making the second, Williams purposely missed the third which Spring Hill's Josh Mathews got a hold of and put back while drawing the foul to bring Spring Hill to within three.

Mathews purposely missed the free throw but the Badgers still came up just short as Mobile's Tramaine Perry came down with the rebound as time ran out.

Nate Williams sparked a 6-0 run to overcome a 4-0 deficit early in the first half. Scoring 13 points in the first half, Williams led the Badgers attack as they took a 30-22 lead into the half.

Mobile endured another slow start for the second night in a row, as they were 32.1 percent including 2-of-10 from downtown.

While the Badgers were better from the floor, shooting 42.9 percent, they also were in control of the boards in the half as they held a 22-to-15 advantage.

Opening the second half with the a 5-0 run, UM forced the Badgers to call for timeout with 17:56 on the clock, as Spring Hill saw their lead cut to three, 30-27.

A little over two minutes later, Mobile's Seluynn Palmer nailed a three-pointer to tie the game 34-34. Gimel Lewis scored on Mobile's next trip down the floor to give the Rams their first lead since the opening moments.

After a Derrick Kibler three-pointer, which gave the Badgers their last lead of the night, 37-36, Mobile went on a 7-0 run.  The resulting 43-37 UM lead forced Spring Hill to yet again call for timeout with 9:26 remaining.

Mobile fought off a vicious Spring Hill rally down the stretch to hold on for the win.

Giving a valiant performance in his final game for Spring Hill, Nate Williams led the Badgers with 21 points. He got help in the paint from center Chris Miernicki who had 11.

Mobile, who shot 50 percent from the floor in the second half, was led by Gabe Feagin's 15 points and Seluynn Palmer's 13. Gimel Lewis, who continued to add to his single-season record for blocks by adding three for a total of 75 on the season, pulled down 11 rebounds to go along with seven points. Lewis helped flip-flop the early advantage the Badgers held on the boards as Mobile ended the game out-rebounding Spring Hill 38-to-31.

The Rams will advance into the GCAC final against Southern University-New Orleans which will be played at 7 p.m. at the Alario Center.  By virtue of making a conference final with SUNO, the Rams will receive an automatic bid to the NAIA National Tournament held at the Municipal Arena in Kansas City, Missouri.