BIRMINGHAM – West Alabama was eliminated in the first round of the Gulf South Conference tournament after falling to Christian Brothers 75-61 in the Pete Hanna Center on Thursday.

“We had our opportunities to win tonight, but we didn’t capitalize on them,” said UWA head coach Mike Newell. “I thought our guys played very well but we gave up 18 offensive rebounds, which I think turned out to be the difference maker.”

West Alabama ends the 2013 men’s basketball season with a 10-16 overall record, 6-13 in the GSC. Christian Brothers keeps its season alive and improves to 19-8 on the season, 14-5 in the conference. The Buccaneer’s will move on to play the winner of the North Alabama and West Florida game tomorrow at 7:30 p.m.

The Buccaneer’s senior leading scorer, Michael Drake led the game with 24 points. Drake also accounted for five of the eight Christian Brother steals. Sophomore’s Ryan Fleming and Trey Casey also recorded double figure scoring numbers. Casey finished with 18 points and Fleming with 15.

West Alabama junior guard Desmond Raymond led his team in scoring with 20 points, marking his personal best scoring performance of the year. Freshman Joshua Millsap recorded his second best performance of the season finishing the game with 11 points.

For seniors, Steven Samuels and Jack Hill, the game was their last as West Alabama Tigers. Samuels ended his college career with a 12 point performance. Hill shot 75 percent from the field to end with four points.

“It is disappointing to end the season this way,” said Newell. “Now we have to regroup and go out and get another recruiting class. We have to go out and get a few more difference makers and replace the ones that we are losing.

Christian Brothers will face the either North Alabama or West Florida on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.