UAB Falls On The Road At Old Dominion

Saturday, February 3

Norfolk, Va.

6:00 PM

UAB

15-9 (6-5CUSA)

Old Dominion

17-5(8-2CUSA)

UAB

ODU

UAB Falls On The Road At Old Dominion

2/3/2018 9:10:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score

NORFOLK, Va. -- UAB's chance to claim an important road victory was swallowed up by turnovers on Saturday night. Instead of celebrating a win at one of the toughest buildings in Conference USA for visiting teams to win, the Blazers were left to pick up the pieces following a 65-60 loss to Old Dominion at the Ted Constant Center.

The Blazers turned the ball over 18 times, with 12 of those coming in the second half, and Old Dominion turned those miscues into 23 points.

"It was frustrating," said UAB head coach Robert Ehsan. "We talked about it in the locker room, when you're at someone else's place, one of the best teams in the league, you got to take it. We didn't take it. We lost the ball a couple too many times. I was proud of the way we played. We played good enough to win, shot the ball good enough to win, even though we didn't shoot a great percentage from 3. You just can't turn the ball over down the stretch."

In many ways, the Blazers (15-9 overall, 6-5 C-USA) beat the Monarchs (17-5 overall, 8-2 C-USA) at their own game. UAB matched one of the league's top defensive teams on that end of the floor and held their own on the boards. In the end, though, they didn't make quite enough plays.

Zack Bryant led the way for UAB in a back-and-forth first half. The freshman point guard, who was coming off a tough outing at Charlotte, had nine points, three rebounds, two assists and a steal in the first half. William Lee added eight points, including a pair of 3-pointers, in the first half.

UAB's defense was also solid in the first half, limiting the bigger Monarchs to 12 points in the paint and forcing them to shoot 37 percent from the field. Old Dominion made just 3 of 14 3-pointers in the first half but still carried a 30-29 lead into halftime.

The Blazers started quickly in the second half, largely because Chris Cokley heated up. Cokley scored the final six points of an 8-2 run that opened the second half. He added another bucket following an Old Dominion 3-pointer.

The complexion of the second half changed, though, when Cokley was whistled for his third foul, on an illegal pick, with 14:29 left in the game. He had 14 points when he went to the bench. At that point, it looked like that was Old Dominion's only answer in defending him.

Not long afterward, Lee was elbowed in the face by Old Dominion's Trey Porter. Lee had to leave the game for several minutes.

However, even with UAB's top two inside players on the sideline, the Blazers built a 47-39 lead with 10:32 remaining. Freshman Makhtar Gueye gave UAB quality time off the bench with his defense and also added a fastbreak dunk.

The Monarchs quickly got back into the lead by stringing together a 10-0 run that began with 10:09 remaining and concluded with 6:36 left.

It turned into a back-and-forth affair for the rest of the way. UAB found ways to score, even though Cokley had just one basket in the final 9:21 and that was a reverse layup at the 4:59 mark. The Blazers also found ways to stop Old Dominion, largely thanks to some key defensive plays by Lee.

Old Dominion hurt UAB with the 3-point shot, making 6 of 12 in the second half. It was a 3-pointer by Randy Haynes that gave Old Dominion the a 58-56 lead with 2:31 left. UAB countered with two free throws by Bryant, before the Monarchs regained the lead at 60-58 with 1:59 left on a short basket by Porter.

The Blazers missed 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions but stopped Old Dominion each time. The Blazers' next chance at tying the game ended with 25.9 seconds left when the ball was stripped away from Bryant on a drive. Brandon Stith made the first of two free throws, leaving a shot at UAB tying the game with a 3-pointer. But a mixup in the backcourt led to a ODU steal and layup by B.J. Stith that built the Monarchs lead to 63-60.

Nick Norton drove to the basket for a layup with seven seconds left but the Monarchs sealed the game at the free throw line.

"I think our players have a great sense of hurt in that locker room, because they feel like we had that one," Ehsan said.