UAB Men’s Basketball Falls at Home to WKU, 73-67

Thursday, February 28

Bartow Arena

6:30 p.m.

UAB

17-12, 9-7CUSA

WKU

17-12, 10-6CUSA

WKU

UAB

UAB Men’s Basketball Falls at Home to WKU, 73-67

2/28/2019 9:37:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score Season Statistics

BIRMINGHAM – Despite leading for more than 30 minutes, the UAB men's basketball team fell to WKU 73-67 on Thursday night inside Bartow Arena.

WKU (17-12, 10-6C-USA) took its second lead of the game with 5:42 left in the contest and UAB could not recover as the Hilltoppers avenged a loss suffered to the Blazers (17-12, 9-7 C-USA) just 12 days ago in Bowling Green.

Lewis Sullivan led UAB in scoring for a second-straight game with 16 points on 7-of-12 shooting, while adding five rebounds. Zack Bryant had 13 points, five rebounds and six assists, and Makhtar Gueye rounded out three players in double figures with 10.

WKU's freshman center Charles Bassey had a game-high 18 points to go along with 13 rebounds as he led four Hilltoppers in double figures. WKU made 23-of-29 from the free throw line which proved to be a major difference in the game as they were +14 in that category over the Blazers (9-of-13).

Both teams shot the ball well as UAB finished at 46.4 percent, while WKU was 44 percent. UAB outscored WKU 36-24 in the paint.

The Blazers scored the first six points of the game which forced an early WKU timeout, and UAB led 9-6 at the first media timeout of the game.

UAB continued to play with the lead as both teams shot over 50 percent in the first 10 minutes of the game, and the Blazers took an 18-16 advantage into the under-12 media timeout.

The Blazers led for 19 minutes in the first half. WKU was only able to tie the game at 20, and took a brief lead at 31-30 with 2:55 left, but the 3-pointer from Jared Savage would be WKU's final points of the first half as UAB scored the final six and had a 36-31 lead at the break.

Sullivan and Gueye each had eight points to lead seven UAB players who found the scoring column. Bassey and Savage also had eight points to pace the Hilltoppers.

UAB built a 7-point lead on two different occasions in the second half, but WKU continued to hang around, and the Hilltoppers took their second lead of the game with 5:42 left in the contest on an and-1 from Josh Anderson, moving WKU ahead 60-57.

A Jeremiah Bell 3-point play tied the game at 62-62 with 3:52 remaining, but a 7-2 WKU run sparked by a triple from Taveion Hollingsworth and four points from Bassey gave the Hilltoppers a 69-64 advantage with less than two minutes remaining.

Down three with 30 seconds to go (70-67), UAB had an opportunity to tie the game or cut it to one, but a missed shot followed by a WKU rebound and free throws iced the game.

It is a quick turnaround for UAB as the Blazers head to UTSA on Sunday for a 2 p.m. tip on CUSA.tv.