The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
Richmond
Men's Basketball Defeats Richmond, 83-75
11/29/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 29, 2003
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ----- Donell Taylor scored a game-high 18 points - 16 coming in the second half - while his twin brother, Ronell Taylor, added 13 to lead UAB over Richmond, 83-75, here Saturday. With the win, the Blazers improve to 2-0, while the Spiders drop to 3-2 on the campaign.
"I thought our defense was real good tonight," UAB head coach Mike Anderson said. "We came out defensively and really turned it up a notch. I thought we rebounded the ball well and we were able to turn the tempo of the game in our favor."
UAB opened the game slowly, and was down by as much as nine points (21-12) with just over seven minutes remaining before the half. However, the defense turned it up and created a frantic pace to enable the Blazers to close out the first half with a 15-1 run to take a 31-25 halftime lead.
The Blazers never trailed in the second and led by as many as 13 points before Richmond closed the gap late.
Gabe Kennedy scored 16 points and Demario Eddins added 14 points and a team-high seven boards. Along with Donell's 18 points, he also added six rebounds and five assists.
Tony Dobbins scored 16 points to lead Richmond. Patrick O'Malley had 15 points and Mike Skrocki added 14 the Spiders.
Richmond had been averaging only 13.5 turnovers a game, but the Spiders had 15 turnovers in the first half and finished with 24 against UAB's pressure defense. The Blazers also collected 12 steals on the night.
The Spiders held a 24-16 lead with 4:27 left in the first half, but back-to-back 3-pointers by Ronell Taylor and Carldell Johnson gave the Blazers the lead for good. Johnson came off the bench to dish out seven assists and no turnovers, while also adding three steals.
"Our bench was a huge factor tonight," said Anderson. "The bench gave us a bunch of energy and they will be huge for us all year long. Our whole team is more than just one or two players, and that's what I really like about this team."
UAB will next do battle with crosstown rival Birmingham-Southern on Wednesday, Dec. 3, at 7:30 p.m. in Bartow Arena.
