Blazers Come Up Short in 86-84 Loss to Mississippi State

Saturday, December 6

Starkville, Miss.

1 p.m.

UAB

Mississippi State

Blazers Come Up Short in 86-84 Loss to Mississippi State

12/6/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball

Dec 6, 2003

Box Score

STARKVILLE, Miss. (AP) - Mississippi State's Lawrence Roberts made a short hook with 3.1 seconds left to cap a second-half rally by the Bulldogs as they defeated UAB 86-84 here Saturday.

The Roberts game-winner partially overshadowed a brilliant performance by UAB senior guard Morris Finley who scored a career-high 38 points for the Blazers (3-1), including UAB's last 17.

Finley's 38 points established a UAB record for most points by a Blazer on an opponent's home floor, breaking the mark of 36 set in December of 1995 by Carlos Williams who scored 35 in a contest at Auburn. Finley's mark Saturday also were the most scored by a UAB player in a loss.

"I want to congratulate a great Mississippi State team on this win," UAB head coach Mike Anderson said. "I knew coming into this one it was going to be a tough, physical game. I am very proud of our guys for the way they played and never letting the crowd get to them."

The Blazers were hampered by whistles and fouls throughout the game. UAB was called for 29 fouls to Mississippi State's 15. The Blazers finished the game just 6-of-13 from the free throw line, while the Bulldogs attempted 30 more from the stripe, making 26 of them. In the second half alone, State was 16-of-23 from the line while UAB made only 1-of-3 free throws.

Finley gave UAB its largest lead of the game, 73-64, on a jumper in the paint with 8:42 left. He made 15 of 21 shots from the floor and was 5-for-7 from 3-point range.

Finley's final 3-pointer made it 81-77 with just over four minutes left, but the Bulldogs (6-0) finished the game with a 9-3 run.

"Mo is just one of those players who can get into the zone and that's what happened tonight," said Anderson. "He played the most minutes that he has played all year and his teammates did a good job of recognizing he was on a roll and getting him the ball."

Timmy Bowers gave Mississippi State the lead on two occasions, both times by getting into the lane for jumpers, during the final two minutes.

His bank shot gave the Bulldogs an 84-83 lead with 1:06 remaining.

Finley tied the game at 84 with one free throw seconds later. Then Roberts made the two biggest plays of the game.

The 6-foot-9 transfer from Baylor grabbed an offensive rebound after Winsome Frazier missed a 3-pointer with 30 seconds left to allow the Bulldogs to set up for a final shot.

Mississippi State ran the clock down before going inside to Roberts, who hit the game-winner while surrounded by defenders.

Roberts had 19 points and nine rebounds, and Bowers and Frazier each scored 18 points for Mississippi State.

Ronell Taylor had 13 points for the Blazers, who shot nearly 65 percent in the first half. Donell Taylor added 11 points to go along with eight rebounds, four assists and four steals.

UAB hit 56.5 percent (35-of-62) of its field goals in the game and 61.5 (8-of-13) from three-point range. MSU hit 44.1 percent from the floor overall and 38.1 percent from beyond the arc.

UAB will now have a break in its schedule for fall semester exams before resuming action on Monday, Dec. 15 against Western Michigan at the Coors Classic in Mobile, Ala.