The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
11-7, 4-1
Marshall
11-8, 4-2
Lee Leads UAB in Win over Marshall
1/14/2017 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 14, 2017
USATSI Photo Gallery 
| Photo Gallery
Box Score (PDF) | Postgame Quotes
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Box scores rarely tell the full story. However, the final stats from UAB's 94-78 Conference USA victory over Marshall painted a pretty accurate picture of how well the Blazers played in front of an enthusiastic home crowd at Bartow Arena.
Five UAB players scored in double figures. William Lee's numbers -- 22 points, 17 rebounds, five assists, three blocked shots -- showed he was the best player on the floor on Saturday. Hakeem Baxter scored 20 points, his highest total in a UAB uniform, and dished out five assists. Chris Cokley made 8-of-11 shots from the field, on the way to 18 points. The Blazers had six players credited with at least three assists and 25 assists as a team. The Blazers shot 68.7 percent from the field, including 6-of-10 on 3-pointers, in the second half and limited the high-scoring Herd to 37.7 percent success rate from the field overall.
Digging deeper into the box score would further help explain the dominating victory, but those numbers are a good place to start.
"I'm very proud of our effort," said UAB head coach Robert Ehsan, whose team improved to 11-7 overall and 4-1 in C-USA. "For 40 minutes, I thought we really did a good job of carrying momentum from (Thursday's win over WKU) over to today. I thought we were playing hard; we were playing aggressive. I thought, in the second half, we wore them down a little bit, and started moving the basketball a lot better."
The UAB defense set the tone early by making Marshall's offense uncomfortable by employing backcourt pressure. The Blazers not only got a couple of early turnovers but also rushed Marshall (11-8 overall, 4-2 C-USA) out of an offensive rhythm.
"We knew they didn't like pressure," said Baxter. "They like to play fast, get up and down, shoot 3s in the first 10 seconds. Slowing them down made them play half-court basketball."
UAB's offense got off to a ragged start because of turnovers and missed shots. Deion Lavender finally helped the Blazers get on track by coming off the bench and providing seven consecutive points in one stretch. It was Lavender providing the first five points of a 7-0 run that turned a four-point advantage into a 32-21 lead with just over three minutes left in the first half.
"I don't think the game ends up being like it is, if Deion doesn't play like he did," said Ehsan of Lavender, who finished with 13 points, three assists, a blocked shot and a steal. "He went on a seven-point run of his own in the first half. We were knocking at the door, a little bit, to push that lead up and we did."
Marshall was able to come back and trim the deficit to 34-31 at halftime and the Herd actually took a 48-46 lead with 14:27 remaining. UAB calmly answered the challenge.
Baxter canned a 3-pointer to begin an 8-0 run, that also included a 3-pointer by Lee and a nice move for a layup by Chris Cokley. That was a sign of things to come for the Blazers. Every time Marshall challenged in the second half, the Blazers had an answer.
Lee played a big role early in the second half, hitting a trio of 3-pointers in the first 10 minutes. But it was a total team effort. Lavender scored four points in a 7-0 run that gave UAB a 66-54 lead with 9:45 remaining. At one point, Lee went to the bench for a breather and Cokley scored six consecutive UAB points.
"It's like in the past, anybody can come off the bench (or) any of the starters can have a big game for us," Lee said.
The UAB defense made sure that the Blazers were the only team on the court to have offensive success in the second half. One big reason that the Herd never got into their accustomed rhythm was the job that Baxter and others did on Marshall leading scorer Jon Elmore. The senior guard was 5-of-14 from the field and missed 6-of-8 3-pointers. He averages eight free throws a game but only got to the line four times on Saturday.
"Hak, the 20 points are impressive," Ehsan said of Baxter. "But, he's been, in my opinion, one of the top defensive players in the league. Elmore scores 13. I don't know how much of those were off Hak but not many. He's embraced the task of taking the best player on every single team."
UAB never let the lead slip below double digits in the final 11 minutes and emerged with its fourth consecutive C-USA victory.
"We've been pushing on the envelope," Ehsan said. "One of the things we needed to do was put together a win or two back-to-back to get the confidence. I thought we got that last weekend. I was optimistic we could perform like we have the last two weeks. These guys are juniors and seniors -- they've been through it -- we just needed something good, something positive to happen to get us mentally in a good place."
For more information on UAB men's basketball, follow the Blazers on Twitter (@UAB_MBB), Instagram (@blazerhoops) and Snapchat (@UAB_MBB).
