The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
Charlotte
Charlotte Snaps Blazers' Home Win Streak, 91-85
1/12/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 12, 2005
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Eddie Basden scored 18 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to lead four Charlotte players in double figures Wednesday night as the 49ers ended UAB's school-record home court win streak at 16 with a 91-85 Conference USA victory. The win pushed Charlotte to 11-2 on the year and 2-0 in league play. UAB fell to 12-4 overall and 2-1 in Conference USA.
Mitchell Baldwin added 17 points and seven assists for the 49ers while Brendan Plavich and Chris Nance tacked on 16 each. Plavich was five-of-10 from three-point range on the night.
"This is a great win for out team against a team that I have unbelievable respect for," Charlotte head coach Bobby Lutz said. ""For us to be able to come in here and win was good. I thought this was out best game of the year, and we needed every ounce of it. I just couldn't be prouder of our guys."
Charlotte used a short, 6-0, run that featured four points by Nance midway through the second half to put some distance between them and the Blazers. UAB cut the lead to one on a Donell Taylor layup with 2:22 to play at 79-78. But Nance swiped the ball away from Demario Eddins on a drive 30-seconds later, then converted a lay up at the 1:36 mark. That made it 81-78 and UAB never got closer.
"The late turnovers we had were really costly," UAB head coach Mike Anderson said. "I thought the crowd was great, they came out in numbers tonight and they really helped give us a chance there at the end. We had some inopportune turnovers at the wrong time."
UAB had a season-high crowd of 7,277. They saw Eddins score a season-high in points with 23 on nine-of-15 shooting. Eddins also tallied eight rebounds, four steals, two blocks and two turnovers. Donell Taylor finished with 15 while twin brother Ronell scored 12 for Anderson's club. Derrick Broom, who ignited the crowd on two occasions with three-point shots, scored 12 as well for the Blazers, while Marvett McDonald scored 11.
Charlotte wound up on top in a game which featured 17 lead changes and six ties. The 49ers shot 50.8-percent (31-of-61) from the floor and were 20-of-26 from the free-throw line. They out-rebounded UAB, 44-32, and struck on nine of 20 three-point shots. The Blazers were seven-of-27 (25.9-percent) from long-range and shot 43.8-percent (32-of-73) for the night.
UAB next travels to East Carolina for a 1 p.m. ET/noon CT tip on Saturday. The game will be carried on a one-hour delay on Comcast/Charter Sports Southeast (CSS), but will air live on the Blazer Radio Network, heard in Birmingham on WYDE, 101.1 FM.
