The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
7-4
Alcorn State
4-7
UAB Remains Unbeaten at Home With Victory Over Alcorn State
12/18/2018 6:04:00 PM | Men's Basketball
BIRMINGHAM - The UAB men's basketball team improved to 5-0 at home this season with an impressive 76-49 victory over Alcorn State on Tuesday afternoon at Bartow Arena.
Makhtar Gueye led the Blazers with a career high 15 points on a 6-of-9 night from the field. The sophomore also reeled in five rebounds and dished out three assists.
"I thought the first 20 minutes we played our best offensive basketball of the year," head coach Robert Ehsan said. "We moved the basketball well, had a lot of assists and shot the ball at a high percentage because of our patience. Also, defensively in the first half we were good. Being ready to play was big, coming off an emotional game against Auburn."
Senior Guard Jalen Perry notched his sixth straight game scoring in double figures and finished the contest with 17 points on 6-of-7 (.857) shooting from the field, including going 3-of-3 from behind the arc.
UAB fell one point short of its highest offensive output of the season. The 76 points were the most the Blazers have scored since Nov. 18 against West Alabama.
UAB came out of the gate red-hot on the offensive end, going on an 11-0 run, sparked by a thunderous dunk by Gueye, before the first media timeout of the game with a 15-5 lead.
A Gueye triple with just under seven minutes to play in the first half pushed the UAB advantage to 19, 35-16, before Alcorn State scored five unanswered to make the cut the UAB lead to 35-21. A Perry dunk off an assist from Gueye with 5:42 left before halftime shifted the momentum back to the Green and Gold, who took a 43-28 lead into the locker room.
UAB shot the ball extremely well in the first half, knocking down 81 percent (17-of-21) of its shots from the field, including a 67 percent (4-of-6) mark from behind the arc.
After Perry opened the second half with a transition bucket on an assist from Lewis Sullivan, Alcorn State recorded two consecutive baskets to cut the UAB advantage to 13, 45-32. The Blazers stretched the lead back to 17, 54-37, on a lay-in by Tavin Lovan but the Braves clawed their way back, cutting their deficit to 11, 55-44, at the under-eight media timeout.
The final minutes were dominated by the Blazers, who utilized an 14-0 run to take a 25-point lead, 71-46, with just under two minutes to play. Buckets by Nolan Bertain and Luis Hurtado with under a minute to play yielded the final score, 76-49.
"In the second half we struggled to keep our intensity," Ehsan said. "We need to do a better job of keeping our intensity for longer periods of time. I thought the guys at the end of the bench came in at the end and finished the game off in a great way."
The Blazers return to the hardwood on Frida, Dec. 21, to take on in-state opponent Troy at Bartow Arena with tipoff set for 7:00 p.m.
For more information on the UAB men's basketball team, follow the Blazers on Twitter (@UAB_MBB) or on Instagram (UAB_MBB).
