The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
Arkansas Angels
Men's Basketball Defeats Arkansas Angels, 92-81
11/17/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 17, 2003
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ----- The UAB men's basketball team completed its exhibition season with a 92-81 victory over the Arkansas Angels here Monday night. The Blazers had five players score in double figures, collected 14 steals and forced the Angels into 19 turnovers on the evening.
"I really liked the way that we came out in the first five minutes of the second half," UAB head coach Mike Anderson said. "That's how we want to play this season. We want our game to predicate from the defensive end, not the offensive side. We also got some other guys some quality minutes. Richard (Jones) came in and gave us some very good minutes and Demario (Eddins) got a chance to start. He didn't get a chance to play in the last game (against VASDA)."
Senior Gabe Kennedy went 7-of-9 from the floor to lead UAB with 14 points, while also collecting a team-best five rebounds. Demario Eddins and Morris Finley each scored 13 points, while Richard Jones had 11 points and Ronell Taylor finished with 10.
The Angels were led by 6-8 forward Danny McCall who collected game highs of 24 points and 11 boards. University of Iowa graduate Madison Peaster accounted for seven points and a game-best 10 assists on the evening.
The Angels (1-2) had the Blazers' backs against the wall in the opening 20 minutes, using hot-shooting and timely buckets to keep UAB on its heels. Arkansas shot a blistering 64 percent (16-of-25) from the floor in the opening half, compared to 42.4 percent (14-of-33) for the Blazers.
After a two-point bucket by Brandon Tobias tied the contest at 20, the Angels went on a 20-6 spurt over a span of 6:34 to take their largest lead of the game at 40-26. Jones connected on a three-pointer for UAB as the halftime buzzer sounded, cutting the Angels lead to 10, 42-32.
"There's no question that I said some things at halftime," said Anderson. "I told them that they were just going through the motions. They thought that they had an easy game and this basketball team can't afford that. We still have a new basketball team. We have five newcomers and one of our key members (Sidney Ball) did not play, so I just told them that they looked sluggish and looked slow. In the first half, we weren't reacting to the ball and we let them dictate the tempo."
The Blazers were down by 10 points (51-41) with 14:59 remaining in the contest when they turned up the pressure defense. UAB used a smothering defense and turned the momentum in its favor, going on a 15-4 run over the next 5:24 to take a 56-55 lead - the Blazers' first lead of the contest.
UAB would then take control late in the contest, outscoring the Angels 22-11 over the final 5:41, to seal the victory. In all, the Blazers outscored the Angels 60-39 in the final 20 minutes.
The Blazers will begin the 2003-04 regular season when they play host to Georgia Southern on Monday, Nov. 24, at 7:30 p.m. in Bartow Arena. The game will be called by Gary Sanders, Matt Coulter and Jon Gentile on WYDE 101.1 FM.
