The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
16-14. 9-8
Florida Atlantic
10-18, 6-11
Blazers Sail Past Florida Atlantic Behind Cokley, Lee
3/2/2017 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 2, 2017
Box Score (PDF) | Postgame Quotes
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Foul trouble turned UAB junior forward Chris Cokley into a spectator for all but four minutes of the first half in Thursday night's Conference USA game against Florida Atlantic at Bartow Arena. In the final 20 minutes, though, Cokley stole the show as UAB closed out a convincing 79-59 victory over the Owls.
Cokley scored all but one of his game-high 19 points in the second half. His first basket didn't come until there was 16:40 left in the game. After that, he quickly made up for lost time. He scored 16 of the team's next 20 points to help the Blazers run away with the victory. Overall, he connected on 8-of-11 shots from the field and 3-of-4 free throws while also adding six rebounds, two blocked shots and two steals.
"He scores in bunches and, once he gets going, he's hard to stop," said UAB teammate Denzell Watts.
It was fun to watch for UAB head coach Robert Ehsan, whose team improved to 16-14 overall and 9-8 in C-USA.
"I knew he played well but you look at the stat sheet and, wow, he just fills it up naturally," said Ehsan. "I didn't call a lot of plays for him, he kind of just went and got the basketball, (including) five offensive rebounds. I was shocked he had that many points, especially considering he didn't play that much in the first half."
While there was certainly a frustration sitting for most of the first 20 minutes, it did allow Cokley to play with more energy in the second half.
"I just try to take all the advantage I can," Cokley said. "If I don't play that much in the first half, I'm pretty much 100 percent energy over everybody else's 50 percent."
As good Cokley was, though, he was just part of a dominant performance by UAB in the paint. The Blazers outscored FAU, 48-26, in the paint and outrebounded the Owls, 41-25. Junior forward William Lee, who was the dominant player on the floor in the first half, finished with 17 points, on 5-of-7 overall and 3-of-5 on 3-pointers, and completed the double-double with 11 rebounds. He also had four blocked shots, two assists and a steal.
Lee also became the 22nd Blazer in school history with 1,000 career points. The Plantersville, Ala., native reached that milestone on a three-pointer early in the first half.
Senior forward Tosin Mehinti was on the cusp of a double-double with 10 points and nine rebounds and also added three blocked shots and an assist.
That type of production made it a simple decision for Watts and the other UAB perimeter players.
"Just get them the ball, man," said Watts, who had 11 points and a pair of assists. "I knew if I got them the ball then 90 percent of the time they would make the shot. The hardest part was just getting them the ball, honestly."
It didn't look hard for the Blazers, who never trailed in the game. The Blazers jumped to a 16-4 lead in the first six minutes, led by as many as 18 points and carried a 42-33 advantage into halftime. Lee and Mehinti combined for 23 points, 10 rebounds and three blocked shots before halftime.
The second half was much the same for the Blazers, who kept the lead in double digits for most of the final 20 minutes. Cokley took over offensively but it was the defense that kept things comfortable for UAB. FAU (10-18 overall, 6-11 C-USA) shot 34.4 percent overall and connected on just 6-of-24 three-pointers.
Perhaps the top second half highlight came late in the game when UAB freshman Javien Williams drove the baseline and dunked the ball over 7-foot FAU center Ronald Delph.
"Hopefully that play will be a confidence builder for him," Ehsan said. "It was an amazing athletic play, one of the best dunks, to be honest, since we've been here."
Most importantly, the Blazers move into Saturday's regular season finale against FIU with the confidence built over the past two games.
"We're making the right steps," said Ehsan, whose team pushed C-USA regular season champ Middle Tennessee to the limit on Sunday. "I thought Sunday we made a small step, even though we didn't win. Today we made another step. We need to continue to make progress. I continue to say it, it's nothing anything I did, there's just a belief in that locker room that if our guys play like we're capable, they can beat anybody in our league. I think that's a great feeling to have, it's a great feeling as a coach. I think it's one of the reasons I still have a lot of belief that we have a good run in us."
For more information on UAB men's basketball, follow the Blazers on Twitter (@UAB_MBB), Instagram (@blazerhoops) and Snapchat (@UAB_MBB).
