Blazers Down LeMoyne-Owen to Close Homestand

Thursday, November 16

Bartow Arena

7:00 PM

UAB

3-0

LeMoyne-Owen College

1-1

LeMoyne-Owen College

UAB

Blazers Down LeMoyne-Owen to Close Homestand

11/16/2017 10:13:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Nine assists with one turnover. Five points, five rebounds and a steal. Several flashy assists, plenty of heady plays.

In some ways, that stat line, which was compiled by Nick Norton during UAB's 81-57 victory over Lemoyne-Owen on Thursday night at Bartow Arena, and overall performance is simply what everyone has come to expect from the Blazer point guard over the years.

In another way, and perhaps most importantly, it was simply Norton taking one more step to returning to form.

"I haven't had a lot of live play," said Norton, who missed the entire 2016-17 season with a knee injury. "I'm still at a month, a little over a month of just straight live play. I'm just trying to get my flow back, being shot ready and getting these guys open shots."

In the first half, particularly, that's what Norton did on Thursday night against the Magicians (1-1). By halftime, he already had six assists with no turnovers and knocked down a 3-pointer.

"There was a lot of confidence built in that first half, that I'll be able to take moving forward," Norton said. "I'm just keeping a steady head, knowing that it will come and it will come at the right time."

UAB head coach Robert Ehsan liked what he saw from Norton on Thursday.

"I think it's a process for him," said Ehsan. "He's only played three games without the brace. I know he wants it to come quickly. It's still, him, being out there on the floor, getting used to new guys and getting his timing back. He was great in the first half. I mean, he had nine assists with just one turnover. He made some phenomenal pitch ahead passes. I think he's inching closer and closer to being there."

That was just part of a night that included a dominant first half, some offensive troubles in the second half and a strong finish. Put it all together and UAB was able to improve to 3-0 as the Blazers head into a difficult test in the Cayman Islands with an opening round assignment against Richmond.

"Pleased with the outcome," Ehsan said of the win over the Magicians. "I thought we played a really good first half, where we played at our pace, scored a lot of points, shot the ball well and were more aggressive. The second half, I thought their zone did a really good job of slowing it down."

In the first half, the Blazers were able to get the ball down low to Chris Cokley, who had 10 points by halftime, and spread the production around. Lewis Sullivan came off the bench to score six points and grab six rebounds as six Blazers had at least five points by halftime. The Blazers took a 47-26 lead into halftime.

In the second half, though, Lemoyne-Owen was able to chip away at the lead behind the scoring of Rashawn Ellis, who had a 26 points overall, and the zone defense.

"Second half, they did that zone, we kind of got out of sorts," Norton said. "I think we overpassed a little bit. We stopped attacking. They threw that press into a 2-3 and we were just kind of slow getting the ball up the floor. And, then, we were forcing and taking tougher shots."

The Magicians used a 14-3 run to trim the deficit to 56-42 with just over 11 minutes remaining. About four minutes later, a 6-0 spurt brought Lemoyne-Owen within 61-51. UAB's Jalen Perry countered with a 15-foot jumper and Sullivan made one of two free throws to get the Blazers back on track.

UAB was finally able to put things away with a 9-0 run that included a 3-pointer by Zack Bryant, two free throws by Cokley, two free throws by Norton and a layup by Makhtar Gueye after a steal and an assist by Bryant.

"That was probably our first time going through a little bit of adversity," said Cokley. "We're going to learn from that. We did do some good things, also we did some bad things. We're going to learn from it and get ready for Richmond."

Cokley finished with third consecutive double-double. He had 19 points and 12 rebounds to go along with two assists, a steal and no turnovers. William Lee narrowly missed a double-double of his own, scoring 14 points and grabbing nine rebounds. He also added three blocked shots, three steals and an assist. Bryant had 14 points, three assists, four steals and a blocked shot.

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