The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
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UTEP
Blazers Hold Off Miners, 78-73
1/21/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 21, 2009
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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Robert Vaden scored 21 points and Howard Crawford added a career-high 19 to lead UAB to a 78-73 Conference USA victory over UTEP on Wednesday night.
Channing Toney scored 17 points and Paul Delaney III had 11 for UAB (12-7, 2-2).
"I was proud of the way our whole team played with a lot of effort tonight," UAB head coach Mike Davis said. "I've told the guys that if you keep playing with effort, shots will start falling. We shot the ball well tonight, and Howard (Crawford) really stepped up and played strong for us offensively."
Crawford, who made his second consecutive start, connected on 6-of-10 shots from the floor and a perfect 7-of-7 from the charity stripe, including hitting all five of his foul shots over the final 3:38. He is now averaging 16.5 points and 6.0 rebounds over his last two contests.
Randy Culpepper scored 26 points and Stefon Jackson added 24 for UTEP (11-7, 2-2). Aaron Johnson had eight points and five assists for UAB, with most of his production coming in the clutch.
The game was close throughout as neither team held more than a nine-point advantage, which the Blazers had when they opened the contest on a 9-0 run. However, the Miners responded with a 9-0 run of their own to even the score at 9-9.
But UTEP never led the entire opening 20 minutes, as UAB went into the locker room with a slim 36-35 advantage.
The second half started the same way with both teams trading baskets. After UTEP's Tavaris Watts drained a three to give his team a 53-52 lead, Johnson's back-to-back layups sparked an 11-4 run which put UAB up 65-57 with 5:04 remaining.
UTEP pulled to within three points twice in the final 30 seconds, but the Blazers put the game away from the charity stripe, connecting on 9-of-9 from the line down the stretch.
The Blazers will close out their three-game homestand when they take on Rice on Saturday at 2 p.m. in Bartow Arena. The contest can be heard on the Blazers ISP Radio Network, 107.7 FM WUHT.
