UAB Falls In Overtime Against Marshall

Saturday, January 20

Huntington, W.Va.

6:00 PM

UAB

-137, 43 CUSA

Marshall

-146, 52 CUSA

OT 1

UAB

Marshall

UAB Falls In Overtime Against Marshall

1/20/2018 9:18:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. -- Plenty of good things happened for the UAB men's basketball team in a tough place to play for visitors. If free throw shooting was on that list, the Blazers would have been celebrating a Conference USA victory, instead of picking up the pieces after 86-78 overtime loss to Marshall at the Cam Henderson Center.

The Blazers were just 5 of 13 from the free throw line, including two misses on the front end of 1-and-1 situations. It's hard to win games on the road with a performance like that, particularly when the opponent makes all 18 of their attempts.

"At the end of the day, you come in on the road, you have 26 assists, which is great, but you just can't shoot 5-for-13 from the free throw line against one of the best teams in the league," said UAB head coach Robert Ehsan.

Unfortunately, the free throw performance came on a night that could have been highlighted by the team's assist total, which was tied for a season best, and a marvelous night from Chris Cokley. The 6-foot-8 Cokley overmatched Marshall's Ajdin Penava, the nation's leading shot blocker, on the way to a career-high 28 points. Nate Darling also had a big night with 21 points and five 3-pointers.
Instead, the Blazers (13-7 overall, 4-3 C-USA) fell out of a fourth-place tie with Marshall (14-6 overall, 5-2 C-USA) and headed home after a pair of disappointing losses on the road.

Early on, it was William Lee leading the way as the Blazers came out with more energy than the Herd. Lee scored UAB's first seven points of the game, Cokley followed with the next six and UAB had an early 13-8 lead. The teams then settled into a first half that featured scoring spurts by both teams.

Marshall eventually built a 45-34 lead late in the first half. Darling's 3-pointer from the corner just before the first half buzzer trimmed the lead to 45-37 at halftime.

UAB scored the first four points of the second half – on baskets by Darling and Cokley – but missed a chance to pull within two on two missed free throws by Bryant. That set a tone for the second half.
Marshall extended the lead to eight points on two different occasions over the next eight minutes but UAB found a way to crawl back within a possession. Just past the halfway point of the second half, Darling hit a 3-pointer to trim the deficit to 59-56 and the Blazers came up with a stop on the other end. Lewis Sullivan pulled down the rebound after a missed Marshall shot but was called for a Flagrant 2 foul, which carries an ejection, for an elbow that struck Penava. After two Penava free throws, the Thundering Herd hit a 3-pointer to build the lead back to 68-59.

That play changed the complexion of the game.

"I got to look at the tape," Ehsan said, when talking about the play afterwards. "But, I told the team, against a top five team in this league, on the road, you just can't shoot free throws like that, have a Lewis situation, where he gives them another two free throws, and expect to win."

However, the Blazers still put themselves in position to win. Five straight points, on a Lee free throw, a Nick Norton jumper and Darling steal and layup, trimmed the deficit to 70-66 with 4:54. Again, the Blazers had a chance to cut into the lead even more but Cokley missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with 4:26 left.

The Blazers kept plugging away on the offensive end and defending well on the other end and found a way to force overtime. Cokley's 15-footer trimmed Marshall's lead to 76-74 with 1:58 left and Cokley powered in for a layup with 23.9 seconds left to tie the score. UAB played outstanding defense on Marshall's ensuing possession and Bryant blocked Elmore's 3-point attempt at the buzzer to force overtime.
In the overtime, however, UAB went cold – hitting just 1 of 10 shots from the field – and Marshall used a pair of back-to-back 3-pointers to do enough to win.

Cokley, who added 14 rebounds, two blocked shots, two steals and an assist, and Lee (13 points, 10 rebounds, three blocked shots) had double-doubles for UAB. Norton dished out 10 assists and played good defense on Elmore, who had a triple-double with 14 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists but was 3-of-16 from the field.

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