After coming off a heartbreaking 57-56 loss against Christian Brothers University last week, followed by another one-possession loss of 63-60 against the University of Montevallo on Thursday, the Union University Bulldogs defeated the Auburn Montgomery Warhawks 102-85 on on Feb. 8 at 4 p.m. The Bulldogs are now 12-10 this season, 8-8 in conference play.
After the game, head coach David Niven talked about how he and the team felt about getting a win with a deep margin of over 20 points after two tough losses at home and how he adjusted from the previous nights.
“It’s good to give everybody a chance to see the floor tonight,” Niven said. “A bunch of guys worked their tails off and I’m happy to be able to reward them and get everybody in the game tonight.”
“[Our success] had zero to do with coaching,” Niven continued. “And some guys that have been working really, really hard were not being able to see the fruit of that hard work, and they got to see the fruit of it tonight. We shot at a really high level. Judson [Bjornstad] and Devaki [Garr] in the first half, Isaiah [Victor]’s been a solid shooter for us throughout the year, but those two in particular really made a big difference and blew this thing open for us.”
Finally, Nixon discussed how this win sets the tone for the rest of the season.
“We gotta build on this,” Niven said. “We go on the road next week at West Alabama and we need to build some momentum, going into that game, so that’s all you can hope for is try to get two in a row now.”
Freshman business major and forward Judson Bjornstad led their victory with a career-high 26 points. Bjornstad finished 6-8 from the three-point range–the most in a game by a Bulldog this season–and 10-12 overall.
Sophomore sports management major Parker Applegate added three of his own three-pointers helping the team make their most threes of the season shooting 16-37 (.432), 13 of which were from the first half.
After the game, Bjornstad spoke on what the team’s mindset was going to into the game and how they plan to keep this momentum going.
“We came together as a team,” Bjornstad said. “We had a good day of practice yesterday and probably our best shoot around this morning. Everybody had energy, and it’s really hard to do that after two tough losses. Coach really put into us to have energy and to have each other’s back.”
“It starts with details and energy,” Bjornstad continued. “We have a tough road trip we need to get two wins on. I feel like going into the postseason, we’re trying to build momentum into that, and I think we’re all kind of seeing the ball go in now. And then once you play, once you see the ball go in, it’s fun basketball, you get the stands, you get everybody going, so it’s really fun.”
The Bulldogs continue their season on the road facing West Alabama on Thursday Feb. 13 at 7:30 p.m. and Alabama Huntsville on Saturday, Feb 15 at 4 p.m.