North Alabama tops Jacksonville 78-63 in Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament semifinal

FLORENCE, Ala. (AP) — Jacari Lane had 19 points and Daniel Ortiz scored 18 to lead North Alabama to a 78-63 victory over Jacksonville on Thursday night in the semifinals of the Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament.

The second-seeded Lions (24-9) will play No. 1 seed Lipscomb for the title on Sunday.

Lane also had six assists for the Lions. Ortiz made 4 of 9 attempts from 3-point range. Will Soucie added 12 points.

Robert McCray finished with 19 points, six rebounds and five assists for the Dolphins (19-13). Jakari Spence added 14 points and four steals. Chris Arias had 12 points.

North Alabama took the lead with 11:18 remaining in the first half and did not relinquish it. Taye Fields led the team in scoring with 10 points in the first half to help put them up 35-23 at the break. North Alabama pulled away with a 9-0 run in the second half to extend a nine-point lead to 18 points. Lane led the way with a team-high 14 second-half points.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.