Men's basketball survives Bryan rally to stay perfect in AAC play

DAYTON, Tenn. - For the third consecutive road game, the Union men's basketball team had to survive a late rally by its opponent, and for the third straight game, the Bulldogs made enough plays to avoid the upset.

All four starters scored at least nine points, and the ninth-ranked Bulldogs opened up a 20-point lead before holding off a ferocious surge by Bryan, improving to 16-0 in the Appalachian Athletic Conference with an 80-75 win.

Behind a 20-3 run late in the first half, highlighted when Terrin Hamilton and Markelo Sullivan hit 3-pointers just three seconds apart, Union took a 44-29 lead into the break. That advantage stretched to 55-35 on a pair of Deonte Douglas free throws 3:50 into the second half.

But the Bulldogs' quickly lost breathing room, as the Lions consistently chipped away, getting within single digits (69-60) with 9:13 to play and keeping the pressure on with excellent outside shooting. With 2:45 to play, that lead was down to 75-74 on a Gene Holmes 3-pointer.

But Sullivan, who led all players with 20 points, answered with a 3-pointer of his own 16 seconds later. The Lions had a chance to tie the game with 1:09 to play, but a Trey Morrow 3-point try bounced off the back of the rim. Markelle Turner grabbed the rebound and after being fouled, calmly hit two free throws to ice a 26th-consecutive win over an AAC opponent for the Bulldogs.

That streak has been anything but easy, especially with a recent stretch of road games.

Thursday followed a similar script to a Jan. 5 game against Reinhardt and a Jan. 9 game against Milligan. The Bulldogs led by as many as 11 in a two-point win against the Eagles and by 15 before holding on for a three-point win against the Buffs.

Union hasn't trailed for a second of any of its last three road games, but has only won them by a combined 10 points.

Sullivan had nine rebounds and four assists to go along with his 20 points. Turner had a 16-point, 10-rebound double-double, Hamilton had 17 points and Douglas had 12.

Inching ever closer to clinching an AAC regular season championship, the Bulldogs travel to Point for a 6 p.m. game Saturday.