The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
SMU
Blazers Hold Off Mustangs, 78-75
2/14/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 14, 2009
Final Stats | UAB-SMU box score (PDF)
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Lawrence Kinnard scored 22 points and UAB beat SMU 78-75 on Saturday. The game featured five ties and 12 lead changes in the back and forth affair.
"We were very fortunate to win this game," UAB head coach Mike Davis said. "We ended up turning it over too much in the first half and should have gotten more rebounds in the second half. There was a lack of concentration and focus for our team, but we were able to pull it out in the end."
The Blazers (17-8, 6-3 Conference USA) trailed 75-74 on a layup by SMU's Bamba Falls with 18 seconds left. But senior guard Paul Delaney III put UAB ahead for good with two free throws 10 seconds later to give his team a 76-75 lead.
The Mustangs (7-16, 1-9) had one last chance to take the lead, but Kinnard was able to steal the ball from Robert Nyakundi with eight seconds to play. Senior guard/forward Robert Vaden hit two free throws to seal the Blazers' seventh win in their last eight contests.
Vaden added 18 points for UAB and Delaney chipped in with 17. Combined, the combination of Kinnard, Vaden and Delaney scored 57 of the team's 78 points.
Paul McCoy led SMU with 29 points, including going 4-of-8 from behind the 3-point arc. Papa Dia chipped in 13 points and eight rebounds and Fall added 10 points for the Mustangs.
SMU scorched the UAB defense, connecting on 52.5 percent from the floor, including 66.7 percent over the opening 20 minutes. It is just the second time this season the Blazers won a game despite allowing the opposition to shoot over 45 percent in a contest.
UAB hit 46.0 percent of its shots while also forcing the Mustangs in 20 turnovers in the game. The Blazers also held a significant advantage from the foul line, hitting 27-of-33 free throws compared to 4-of-9 for SMU. "Fortunately, we were able to hit some big shots down the stretch," Davis said. "SMU played hard and gave us a great game. (SMU head coach) Matt Doherty has done a terrific job because his team played very hard from the opening tip."
The Blazers will now travel to New Orleans, La. to take on the Tulane Green Wave on Wednesday at 7 p.m. The contest can be heard live on the Blazers ISP Radio Network, 107.7 FM WUHT.
