UAB Rallies to Defeat First Place North Texas 52-49 on the Road

Thursday, January 24

Denton, Texas

7 p.m.

UAB

12-7

North Texas

17-3

UAB

North Texas

UAB Rallies to Defeat First Place North Texas 52-49 on the Road

1/24/2019 10:34:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Season Statistics

DENTON, Texas – The UAB men's basketball team outscored North Texas 13-5 in the final 6:03 of the game to rally for statement road win over the first place Mean Green, 52-49, on Thursday night at The Super Pit.

The Blazers (13-7, 5-2 C-USA) clamped down on defense and held the Mean Green (17-3, 5-2 C-USA) to a season-low 49 points on 31 percent shooting (18-of-58). UAB made its final four shots down the stretch, including a corner 3-pointer by Jalen Perry with 24 second remaining to give UAB a 52-46 advantage which proved to be the winning basket.

North Texas cut the lead to 52-49 with two second remaining on a triple from Umoja Gibson, and got the ball back on a turnover with 1.1 seconds left, but UNT's final attempt was an off-balanced 3-pointer which didn't find the rim and gave UAB the come-from-behind victory.

Trailing 44-39, UAB held UNT to 2-of-11 to end the game and pulled away behind clutch shots by Tavin Lovan, Zack Bryant, Lewis Sullivan and Perry's 3-pointer.

Bryant scored a team-high 17 points to go along with five assists. Makhtar Gueye was one point shy of his second straight double-double, finishing with nine points and a game-high 13 rebounds, which also tied his career high. North Texas entered the game with six players averaging double figures, and UAB only allowed three players to score in double digits, led by Gibson with 15.

Despite starting the game 2-for-10 from the floor, the Blazers only trailed 7-4 at the second media timeout of the game by holding North Texas to 3-of-8 and forcing four early Mean Green Turnovers.

Trailing 13-8 at the under-8 media timeout, the Blazers scored eight of the next 11 points and tied the game at 16-16 courtesy of a Tyreek Scott-Grayson 3-pointer from the corner with 4:52 left in the half.

The Blazers took their first lead of the game with exactly four minutes to play when Jeremiah Bell connected on a pair of free throws to give UAB a 18-16 advantage.

North Texas led 24-22 at the break as UAB shot 32 percent (8-of-25) in the first half and North Texas 33 percent (9-of-27). Gueye had six points and six rebounds at the break to lead the Blazers, while Perry and Scott-Grayson each added five.

UNT used an early 8-3 run to begin the second half and forced a UAB timeout with 16:22 remaining after Gibson hit a transition triple to give the Mean Green a 32-25 lead.

With North Texas leading 38-32, Bryant went on a 7-0 scoring run with a pair of free throws, a 3-pointer and a driving layup. His layup gave UAB its first lead of the second half at 39-38 with 8:04 left in the contest.

North Texas scored the next six points for its 44-39 lead, but that's when the Blazers took over and finished the game on its 13-5 run to secure the victory.

UAB shot 33.9 percent for the game (19-of-56) and won the battle on the glass 44-40. Of North Texas' 18 field goals, 12 of them were from behind the arc as UAB held the Mean Green to 6-of-21 inside 3-point range.

The Blazers now turn their attention to Rice when they take on the Owls Saturday night at 7 p.m. on ESPN+. Fans can follow @UAB_MBB on Twitter and Instagram for updates.