The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Blazers Down Marshall, Take Control of C-USA Race
2/25/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 25, 2016
Box Score (PDF) | Postgame Quotes
By Steve Irvine, UABSports.com
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The UAB men's basketball team matched high-scoring Marshall bucket-for-bucket on Thursday night at Bartow Arena before making enough clutch plays in the closing seconds to pull off a 95-91 victory in a matchup of the top two teams in Conference USA.
"That was a heckuva win for us," said UAB head coach Jerod Haase, whose team now has a two-game lead over the Herd with three regular-season games to play. "They are so hard to guard. We tried everything. It didn't work, so we tried everything again. We ended playing zone for most of the second half but it was good enough."
It was good enough because the Blazers, who extended their school-record Bartow Arena winning streak to 24 games before a raucous crowd of 7,190, made so many clutch baskets in the second half. None was bigger -- or more timely -- than Dirk Williams' 3-pointer from the right corner, following a nice pass from Robert Brown, that gave the Blazers an 89-85 lead with 1:03 remaining.
"I just stepped in and shot it," said Williams, a 6-foot-5 junior. "It was a big shot for us. I had a lot of confidence; I knew it was going in."
Why wouldn't he? Pretty much everything Williams shot Thursday went into the basket. He was 6-of-7 from the field, including 4-of-4 from outside the 3-point stripe, and 3-of-3 from the free throw line for a team-high 19 points. He also had six rebounds, two assists, a blocked shot and a steal.
"Pretty darn efficient," Haase said of Williams' performance. "The three he hit from the corner was unbelievable. He's great in our zone defense. Then we had Nick (Norton) and Hakeem (Baxter) making their free throws down the stretch, as well. We do have guys who make big plays, but Dirk was certainly a catalyst for this game."
Williams was also the catalyst, particularly in the second half, Sunday in a 77-67 win at Middle Tennessee. In that game, he was 7-of-8 from the field, hitting 3-of-4 3-pointers, on his way to 19 points.
"We expect that out of him," Norton said of Williams' performance Thursday. "He does that every day in practice, big shots. He's been doing it all year, coming off the bench with high energy. He can score at will."
He had a lot of help from his teammates, which was needed against a Marshall team that placed five of the seven players who saw action in double figures.
"They're very good offensively," Norton said. "All five guys on the floor can shoot. We just had to slow them down and wear them down at the same time."
UAB (23-5 overall, 13-2 C-USA) played at Marshall's pace in the first half and the teams went into halftime tied at 49. At the time, UAB, which set a school record for most C-USA wins in a season, had just one offensive rebound and two second-chance points. In the second half, UAB had 14 offensive rebounds and 17 second-chance points after halftime.
"That was a theme at halftime," said Haase, whose team outrebounded Marshall, 46-38, overall. "We needed to do better, and needless to say, we did do better. They did a great job of loading up to the strong side and, basically, daring us to shoot from the outside. We wanted to get the ball inside but it was hard the way they were defending. One way we can get the ball inside was by offensive rebounding."
Marshall (15-3 overall, 11-4 C-USA) had trouble stopping the Blazers' inside players in the second half. Chris Cokley finished with 16 points and nine rebounds, William Lee had nine points and 10 rebounds and Tosin Mehinti had eight points and five rebounds.
Cokley hit a free throw with 13:37 left and followed with a tip-in 32 seconds later to give UAB a 62-59. UAB eventually stretched the lead to 73-66 after Mehinti's layup with 8:12 remaining but Marshall clawed back with 10 consecutive points. Neither team led by more than four points the rest of the way.
Marshall hit some big shots in the final minute but UAB answered each time with a pair of free throws. Norton hit two with 18.3 seconds remaining, Baxter made a pair with 11.1 seconds left and Norton iced the game with two more with 2.4 seconds on the clock.
UAB closes out the Bartow Arena part of its schedule Saturday at 11 a.m. against Western Kentucky. A win would clinch at least a tie for the C-USA regular-season title; but the spotlight will shine on Brown, who is the Blazers lone senior and unquestioned leader.
"The biggest thing in my mind, right now, is I want to make sure Robert Brown goes out the right way," Haase said. "He's meant so much to this program the last two years. It's his senior day. We're going to try to get the biggest crowd we possibly can and honor him the best we possibly can. The best way to honor him is to play great."
The Conference USA Men's and Women's Basketball Championships are 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).
