The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
Southern Miss
Blazers Cruise Past Southern Miss, 66-49
2/7/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 7, 2009
Final Stats |
AP Gallery 
HATTIESBURG, MISS. - Paul Delaney III scored 16 points to lead UAB over Southern Mississippi 66-49 here Saturday. The Blazers (16-8, 6-3 Conference USA), who lead the conference in field goal percentage at 46.7 a game, shot 47.9 percent (23-of-48) against the Golden Eagles.
"This was a very good win for our basketball team," UAB head coach Mike Davis said. "We have had trouble winning down here and for us to come in and play this well against a talented team speaks volume about how far we have come. I thought we did a good job on the defensive end of the floor, especially in the second half."
Channing Toney and Robert Vaden scored 15 points each for UAB in its first win at Southern Mississippi since Feb. 18, 2006.
Lawrence Kinnard added 12 points and 12 rebounds, which marked his league-leading 11th double-double of the season.
R.L. Horton led Southern Mississippi (13-9, 3-5) with 19 points. Courtney Beasley added 16 and Jeremy Wise scored 10 for the Golden Eagles.
All five starters scored every point for both teams in the contest.
The Golden Eagles jumped out quickly and held a 10-point advantage, 14-4, just five and half minutes into the contest. However,the Blazers slowly chipped away and took their first lead, 23-22, on a jump shot by Toney with 5:36 left in the first half. The Blazers would go on to lead by two, 31-29, at the half.
UAB jumped on Southern Miss early in the second half. Leading 35-31 at the 16:08 mark, the Blazers went on a 13-6 run over the next 4:33 to take a commanding 48-37 lead with under 12 minutes left in the contest.
UAB's biggest lead was 66-47 on a dunk by Delaney with 1:49 left in the game.
UAB held Southern Miss to 40.0 percent shooting, including just 30.0 percent over the final 20 minutes, from the floor and just 12.5 percent (1-of-8) from beyond the arc. Additionally, the Blazers were 15-of-21 from the foul line, while the Golden Eagles were 4-of-5.
UAB also had owned 34-29 advantage on the boards, which marked the fourth time in the last five contests the Blazers have outrebounded the opposition.
The Blazers, who have now won six of their last seven contests, will enjoy a week off before heading taking on SMU on Saturday, Feb. 14, at 2 p.m. in Bartow Arena.
