The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
UCF
UCF Outlasts UAB, 48-41
1/21/2012 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 21, 2012
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ---- UAB overcame a nine-point half time deficit, but UCF used a 10-0 run to close out the game to defeat the Blazers 48-41 at Bartow Arena on Saturday afternoon in Conference USA action.
It was the first time since Jan. 12, 2002 that the Blazers have lost a game when allowing the opposition to score 50 or fewer points (lost at Southern Miss, 50-36). UAB head coach Mike Davis had been 20-0 in such contests during his six seasons with the Blazers.
"It's very difficult to execute plays when players do something totally different than what we say do," head coach Mike Davis said. "We are just not executing. We have to continue to work with the guys and continue to get them to understand when it is the time to score."
UAB (6-12, 1-4 C-USA) trailed from the opening tip until the 6:12 mark in the second half when Jordan Swing hit a pair of free throws to take a 39-38 lead. Swing would tack on another pair of free throws to put the Blazers 41-38 with 5:12 remaining.
However, the Knights utilized a 10-0 rally from that point on to claim the victory and improve to 15-4 overall, 5-1 in league play.
Charging the comeback that came up short for the Blazers was Jekore Tyler, who had a stretch of seven-straight points, as he finished the contest with 11.
Moore recorded his sixth double-double of the season, scoring a game-high 12 points and grabbing 12 boards. He made 6-of-14 shots from the field and added two blocks to his stat line.
Swing tied Moore with 12 points, including a pair of treys and was a perfect 4-for-4 from the charity stripe.
The Blazers struggled to find the bottom of the net throughout the contest, shooting just 28.6 percent (14-for-49) from the floor. The Knights were not much better, connecting on 18 of 47 shots (38.3 percent).
"We were just settling for shots," Davis said. "We turned the basketball over unbelievably. We were just not playing really good basketball. If we don't play the right way, we have no chance to beat anyone. This was just another game that we gave away."
The 48 points scored by the UCF was the lowest point total the Blazers have allowed throughout the season. Unfortunately, that was paired with UAB's lowest scoring output on offense since scoring 37 points at UTEP on Feb. 8, 2006.
UCF was led by Keith Clanton's 10 points, as the Knights sported a balanced attack which featured six players score six points or more in the victory.
Next up for UAB is a trip to Huntington, W.Va., to play the Marshall Thundering Herd on Wednesday, Jan. 25. Game time is scheduled for 6 p.m. CT and will air on CSS.
