The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
Houston
Blazers Drop Road Contest In Houston
2/17/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 17, 2007
HOUSTON (AP) -Robert McKiver scored 18 points and Dion Dowell hit the go-ahead 3-pointer with 2:23 left as Houston beat UAB 70-64 on Saturday night.
Jamar Thorpe scored 16 points and Oliver Lafayette added 11 points for Houston (14-11, 8-3 Conference USA), who beat UAB for the first time in five meetings.
"This was a tough loss," UAB head coach Mike Davis said. "I was proud of the effort we gave, but we gave up too many offensive rebounds and in the end it cost us. I thought we were fouled a lot of times in the paint that was never called, but we have to be able to fight through that and finish games."
Wen Mukubu scored a game-high 24 points for the Blazers (13-13, 5-7). Paul Delaney III scored 13 points and Frank Holmes added 10 points and nine rebounds.
The Blazers led the entire way until Dowdell's three pointer with just over two minutes remaining in the contest. UAB held a 12-point lead, 40-28, with 18 minutes left in regulation. However, the Cougars went on a 12-0 run to tie the game at 40-40 at the 12:14 mark.
Dowell's go-ahead 3-pointer was his second from the same spot in as many possessions for the Cougars, giving Houston a 58-56 lead it would never relinquish. He finished with 9 points, all on 3s.
UAB led by eight at halftime after shooting 50 percent in the first half. But the Blazers shot just 31 percent in the second half, including hitting just 1 of 12 3-pointers.
UAB will next be in action when it travels to Tulsa, Oklahoma to take on the Golden Hurricane on Wednesday, Feb. 20, at 7 p.m. CT.
