Blazers Extend Win Streak Over Troy

Tuesday, December 5

Troy, Ala.

7:00 PM

UAB

6-3

Troy

5-4

UAB

Troy

Blazers Extend Win Streak Over Troy

12/5/2017 10:02:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

TROY, Ala. – This time, fortunately, the streak continues.

UAB continued its mastery over Troy with a 90-78 victory over the Trojans on Tuesday night at Trojan Arena. It was the 10^th time that the teams have played in men's basketball. It was the 10^th time that UAB emerged victorious.

This one came with some anxious moments.

"The number one thing I was most proud of is adversity on the road, first road game with some new guys and how we responded," said UAB head coach Robert Ehsan, whose team snapped a 16-game losing streak to Memphis last Thursday. "We responded in the right way."

UAB (6-3) got contributions from throughout the lineup but a big chunk of the credit goes to junior forward Lewis Sullivan and freshman point guard Zack Bryant, who tied for game-high honors with 19 points.

Sullivan was 7-of-8 from the field and added five rebounds in 27 minutes.

"Credit Lewis Sullivan," Ehsan said. "It said he had five rebounds. I swear he had to have more than five. It felt like, in that second half, he got every offensive rebound."

Bryant was outstanding on the offensive end, hitting three 3-pointers at opportune moments, and dishing out two assists with one turnovers in 32 minutes. But his second half defense on Troy's Wesley Person, who had 18 first half points, was the key. Person was 4-of-5 from the field, including hitting all three of his 3-pointers, and 7-of-7 from the line in the first half. In the second half, he was 2-of-6 overall, including missing all four 3-pointers, and 5-of-5 from the free throw line.

"We tried a lot of different people, I thought, in the first half, he made two or three, where you couldn't contest him any better," Ehsan said. "We showed the team the kind of runs he was capable of. I thought Scootie (Bryant) did a really good job of just bothering him in the second half. He couldn't catch the ball cleanly, I thought that was a big part of it."

UAB's play in the paint and on the boards was also a huge part of the win. The Blazers outrebounded Troy, 40-20, overall and won the offensive rebound battle, 19-4. UAB had 29 second chance points – to Troy's seven – and the Blazers won the points in the paint category, 46-18.

The Blazers used that to take an early advantage in the game. Part of the early success was Nate Darling driving to the basket for points but William Lee and Chris Cokley also had inside success for most of the first half. Cokley's layup gave UAB a 37-23 lead with 5:08 left in the half.

Things changed decisively at that point. For the remainder of the second half and the first nine minutes of the second half, Troy had trouble missing. The Trojans, who trailed, 41-40, at halftime, scored the first seven points of the second half and had the lead stretched to seven points on three different occasions.

"In the first part of the game we weren't great, but then we got it going," Ehsan said. "We were moving the basketball and we took a sizeable lead. The last five minutes to probably six or seven minutes into the second half, our body energy was bad. We challenged the guys to make them uncomfortable. Then, the last 10 minutes, that's a whole different UAB team."

Darling's 3-pointer from the top of the key, after an offensive rebound by Cokley, cut the Troy lead to 63-62 with 10:30 remaining. Sullivan followed with two free throws and Bryant hit a 3-pointer from the right wing. UAB never trailed again. Sullivan scored 11 points in the final eight minutes to help UAB pull away.

"That's the Lew I love," Lee said. "He brings it every day in practice. We need that Lew every game."

Lee also played well, contributing 17 points and seven rebounds. Cokley had 14 points, 10 rebounds, seven of those coming on the offensive end, and three assists in 22 minutes. Darling had 14 points with six rebounds and four assists.

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