The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
3-3
Virginia Tech
4-2
UAB Suffers Overtime Loss to Virginia Tech
11/28/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
By Steve Irvine, UABSports.com
Box Score (PDF)
NICEVILLE, Fla. - The step that the UAB men's basketball team took forward on Saturday, unfortunately, didn't come complete with a victory. Instead, the Blazers come home from a Thanksgiving trip to the beach without a win after dropping an 82-77 overtime decision to Virginia Tech in the third place game of the Emerald Coast Classic at Northwest Florida State College.
"There are certainly some positives we can take away from it, in terms of development of the team," said UAB head coach Jerod Haase. "But, at the end of the day, we were unable to keep them off the free throw line and unable to get the loose balls and rebounds we had to have."
Those numbers certainly jumped out on the floor and in the box score. Virginia Tech (4-2) won the battle of the boards, 46-30, and the Hokies grabbed 17 offensive rebounds. The Hokies also made UAB (3-3) pay for its fouls as Virginia Tech converted 24-of-32 free throws overall, including 16-of-20 in the second half and overtime. UAB, on the other hand, made just 1-of-7 free throws in the second half.
Yet, the Blazers still put themselves in position to win, largely thanks to some gritty play in the second half and the double digit scoring effort of four players. Sophomore guard Nick Norton led the way with 17 points, with 15 of those coming on 3-pointers. He also added four assists and four rebounds and didn't turn the ball over in 35 minutes.
"I thought he was really good," Haase said. "He shot the ball well, led the team, made big plays. He played a nice game tonight."
Junior guard Hakeem Baxter also had his best offensive game of the year, scoring 16 points with a pair of 3-pointers. Senior guard Robert Brown had 16 points and five assists and Chris Cokley, the Blazers lone representative on the all-tournament team, had 12 points and eight rebounds.
UAB also showed a lot of improvement from Friday's loss to Illinois. The Blazers led for much of the first half and carried a 38-35 lead into intermission.
UAB used a 7-0 run early in the half, featuring five points from Baxter and a layup by Cokley, to take a 49-41 lead with 14:36 remaining. Virginia Tech countered with a 15-2 run over the next five minutes to claim a 56-51 advantage.
The Blazers stormed back with another 7-0 run that consisted of a pair of Norton 3-pointers sandwiched around a Cokley layup. Norton's second long range shot gave UAB a 64-62 lead with 4:36 remaining. Once again, the Hokies answered with a burst of its own, outscoring UAB 7-2 over the next four minutes. UAB scored three straight points, including a Baxter layup that tied the game at 69 with 52 seconds left, and forced a Hokie turnover.
It looked like Norton's layup, after driving past the defense on the right side, with 31 seconds remaining would provide the winning points. But Virginia Tech's Zach LeDay hit two free throws to tie the score with 17.4 seconds left. Norton's long 3-pointer at the buzzer hit the front iron and the teams went to overtime.
The teams traded two points to begin overtime before Virginia Tech's Seth Allen, who had a game-high 23 points, hit a 3-pointer to give the Hokies the lead for good. Brown did hit a key 3-pointer for the Blazers with 1:40 left, but Virginia Tech held on for the win.
UAB returns to Birmingham to face 2015 NCAA Tournament participant Georgia State Tuesday at 8 p.m. on ASN.
"I'm going to have to challenge the team a little bit and see who is willing and able to step forward in order for us to be the team we want to become," Haase said.
UAB men's basketball home season tickets are on sale now and feature 14 regular season games. Lower level seats are in high demand and are priced at $215 per seat. UAB employee or active members of the National Alumni Society will receive a discounted price of $195. Upper level seats can be purchased for as low as $75. Click here to purchase your season tickets today, or call the UAB Athletics Ticket Office at (205) 975-8221.
The Conference USA Men's and Women's Basketball Championship is set to return to Birmingham for the second consecutive year, marking the third time the Blazers will host the event. The men's tournament, as well as the women's semifinals and championship, will be played at Legacy Arena in downtown Birmingham, while the women's first round and quarterfinal action will take place at UAB's Bartow Arena.
For more information on UAB men's basketball, follow the Blazers on Twitter (@UAB_MBB), on Instagram (@blazerhoops) or on Facebook (Facebook.com/UABMensBasketball). For more on all Blazer sports teams follow the official social media accounts of UAB Athletics on Twitter (@UABAthletics), on Facebook (Facebook.com/UAB.Blazers), on Instagram (@uabathletics) or on Snapchat (@uabathletics).
