The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
North Georgia
Eddins Shines As UAB Wins Exhibition, 98-68
11/15/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 15, 2005
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Demario Eddins scored 23 points to go with nine rebounds, six assists and four steals to lead UAB to a 98-68 exhibition win over North Georgia Tuesday night. Marvett McDonald added 17 and Frank Holmes had 11 for the Blazers, who finished a perfect 2-0 in exhibition play.
"Its good to see," UAB head coach Mike Anderson said of Eddins' all-round performance. "That's what he's been doing in practice. He's starting to look even more explosive. This should be his year to be the focal point of our basketball team."
North Georgia began the game on fire, jumping out to a 10-point lead at 12-2 with 16:14 to play in the first half behind eight early points from senior guard Matt Causey. The Blazers chipped away and took the lead for the first time on an Eddins three-pointer at the 12:21 mark of the first. UAB pulled in control for good on an Eddins dunk with 9:23 to play which made it 22-21 Blazers.
"This gave us a good team to play," Anderson said. "They came in here and came right after us. I anticipated that. They play an up-tempo game and can shoot the basketball. They sprinted out but once we got in a rhythm, we were better. The fatigue factor was huge in this game."
After pulling ahead on Eddins' dunk, the Blazers edged away from the Saints and held a 40-34 lead at halftime. A quick 7-2 spurt in favor of UAB to start the second half began to distance the difference. North Georgia made a run of its own, however, scoring six unanswered points to pull within six at 49-43 with 17:04 to play. The Blazers responded with a 13-2 run over a four minute span to pull away, this time for good.
Matt Causey led the way for the Saints, scoring 20 points behind 10-of-12 free-throw shooting. Buzz Wehunt went for 16, Mark Trust 11 and Marcus Robinson 10 for North Georgia. Causey's younger brother, Mark, scored nine points and had a game-high 14 rebounds in the effort.
Squeaky Johnson scored nine points with seven assists and five steals for UAB. The Blazers forced 36 turnovers - 18 in each half - and recorded 21 steals for the contest. Paul Delaney had four steals in 12 minutes of play for UAB. Wen Mukubu and Maurice Gibbs added eight points each for the Blazers, who shot 52 percent from the floor in the second half.
All 15 Blazers saw the floor, including walk-on Patrick Hassell, who made the team after walk-on tryouts in October. Hassell recorded a steal in his Blazer debut.
North Georgia out-rebounded UAB for the game, 50-47, but the Blazers notched 43 points off Saints' turnovers compared to just 15 for North Georgia. The Blazers shot 43.9 percent (43-of-98) from the field for the contest while holding NGCSU to 39.3 percent (22-of-56) shooting.
UAB officially opens the 2005-06 regular season in the Hall of Fame Tip-off Classic on Friday, Nov. 25 in a 1 p.m. ET/12 p.m. CT tip against UMass. The contest will be played in the newly-renovated Mass Mutual Center in Springfield, Mass., the day after Thanksgiving. The contest will air live nationally on FoxSportsNet.
North Georgia opens regular season play on Friday, Nov. 18 at 5:30 p.m. at Lindsey Wilson in Columbia, Ky.
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