Blazers Drop Heartbreaker at Auburn

Saturday, December 9

Auburn, Ala.

3:30 PM

UAB

6-4

Auburn

8-1

UAB

Auburn

Blazers Drop Heartbreaker at Auburn

12/9/2017 6:42:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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AUBURN, Ala. – A bad start was harmful but UAB came back gamely to go toe-to-toe with Auburn in an 85-80 Tigers victory on Saturday afternoon at Auburn Arena.

The loss ended a three-game win streak for the Blazers (6-4 overall) and Auburn (8-1 overall) extended its winning streak in the series to five games. It could have ended differently for Robert Ehsan's UAB team, who got yet another marvelous game from Chris Cokley at Auburn Arena.

"We were playing catchup," Ehsan said. "I was really proud of the guys, with about three minutes left, we had a one-point ballgame. But we spotted them 15 points. On the road, you can't do that against a good team."

UAB was fortunate to trail by just seven points in the first half after facing a barrage of Auburn 3-pointers, the early ones by point guard Jared Harper, and way too much production by Bryce Brown. The Tigers made 9-of-15 3-pointers and Brown, who averages 16 points per game, had 23 points by halftime. Brown made 7-of-11 shots from the field and connected on 5-of-6 three-pointers.

The Blazers seemed to be out of sync – offensively and defensively – and Auburn took advantage. The Tigers led 18-4 with five minutes elapsed and led by as many as 15 points.

But UAB remained calm and started chipping away at the lead. Cokley scored four consecutive points and Zack Bryant, who repeatedly got into the paint on the dribble, drained two free throws to trim the deficit to 40-33 with 2:24 left.

Naturally, Brown answered with a 3-pointer at the end of the shot clock, but the Blazers countered with a three-point play, two Cokley free throws and a William Lee follow, sandwiched around an Auburn bucket, to make the score 45-40. Brown drove for bucket at the halftime buzzer to give Auburn the 47-40 lead.

UAB was dominated on the boards early on but came back to match Auburn with 14 rebounds in the first half. The Tigers did hurt UAB on the offensive boards, grabbing seven and scoring 11 second-chance points in the first half.

"One of the things, if you've watched Auburn play, they've done this almost every game, especially at home," Ehsan. "They've come out with a good start and really made tough shots, made 3s early. We've talked about that for three days. Harper got going. He made three NBA 3s in the first couple of minutes. They got rolling."

In the second half, though, UAB changed its fortunes. Part it was clamping down on Brown and Harper, who had two second half field goals. The other part, at least defensively, was making it tougher for Auburn to get quality 3-pointers. The Tigers were just 2-of-10 from outside the stripe in the second half.

Cokley had 16 of his 26 points after halftime. He was 6-of-9 from the field, 4-of-4 from the free throw line, grabbed four offensive rebounds and had a steal in the second half.

"For him to score 26 points, on essentially one ankle, and not practice is pretty remarkable," said Ehsan. "It's just a testament to the year he's had."

Plenty of other Blazers made huge contributions in the second half. Bryant played well in the toughest college environment he's faced, Jalen Perry came off the bench to make some key plays and Nick Norton hit some big shots.

UAB trimmed the deficit to 63-59 on a layup by Bryant with 9:55 left and never trailed by more than six points after that. The Blazers had the deficit down to two points twice and trimmed Auburn's lead to 71-70 on a 3-pointer by Perry with just over four minutes remaining. Auburn countered with two free throws. A few seconds later, UAB had a 3-on-1 break and Norton took a wide open 3-pointer in an attempt to tie the score. His shot rolled out of the basket.

"I trust Nick," Ehsan said. "He's one of the best shooters in the country and our conference. You've got to let him shoot that shot. If we had to do it all over, I'd probably tell him to take the shot again and go with it."

UAB still hung in there and was in position to take the lead the rest of the way. However, two breakdowns on the boards – one after a missed free throw – turned into a pair of backbreaking buckets for Auburn's Malik Dunbar.

"I told the team, that's what cost us the game, unfortunately," Ehsan said. "That was the No. 1 key for us."

Ehsan was still proud of his team for their effort and, despite the final result, this is a game that the Blazers can build upon.

"We've got to keep getting better," Ehsan said. 'If you take our season so far, we've got a whole lot better. We put ourselves in position to steal one tonight, didn't get it done. We're going to have to learn from this game and we have to get better. If we keep getting better, this team's going to be really good, which I've said from day one."

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