The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
St. John's
Blazers Eliminated In NIT Quarterfinal
3/27/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 27, 2003
NEW YORK - Anthony Glover scored 16 points as St. John's beat UAB, 79-71, in the NIT quarterfinal game here Thursday night. The loss ends the Blazers' season at 21-13, an eight-game turnaround from a season ago, under first-year head coach Mike Anderson
"I am extremely proud of the way our team came out and played tonight," said Anderson. "You got to give credit to St. John's. They are a well-caoched team with very talented players. But you have to give credit to our team as well. They left everything they had out on the floor."
Eric Bush, who finished with a career-high 23 points in his final game for UAB, brought the Blazers within 53-52 at 8:21 of the second half, but the Red Storm took a 64-58 lead with 4:26 left when Hatten closed an 11-2 run with a fast-break layup.
Junior Morris Finley led all scorers with 25 points on the night, 18 of them coming in the second half. Combined, UAB's dynamic backcourt scored 48 of the Blazers' 71 points in the contest.
After Finley's 3-pointer gave the Blazers an 11-6 lead, St. John's went on a 23-7 run to move in front 29-18 at 7:40. Eric King, who closed the rally with a layup, and Elijah Ingram each had four points in the run.
UAB scored the next seven points to make it 29-25, and Finley's two foul shots with 30 seconds remaining made it 34-32 at halftime.
Marcus Hatten added 15 points and Grady Reynolds had 14 to go with his 14 rebounds for the Red Storm (19-13), who will play Texas Tech in a semifinal game Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden.
Minnesota and Georgetown will meet in the other semifinal. The championship game is April 3.
