Blazers burn Raiders late in Bartow Arena

Sunday, January 31

Birmingham, AL

2:00 PM

Middle Tennessee

-311,17 CUSA

UAB

-142,71 CUSA

Middle Tennessee

UAB

1/31/2021 4:20:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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By: @MTAthletics

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Middle Tennessee started strong for the second straight outing on Sunday afternoon in Birmingham, holding a lead on the road for a majority of the first 30 minutes before struggling down the stretch and falling by a score of 63-52.

The Blue Raiders (3-11, 1-7) held first-place UAB (14-2, 7-1) in check for much of the contest, but gave up 29 points in the final 12 minutes to surrender their lead. The Blazers' 63 points represents their fourth-lowest scoring output of the 2020-21 season.

"I thought we were really good again for a good portion of the game today and our defense really gave them some fits at times," Head Coach Nick McDevitt stated. "Down the stretch we had some quality looks that didn't go down for us, and to beat a team that's in first place on the road, you've got to have some of those go down."

Middle Tennessee took an early 3-2 lead as Dontrell Shuler picked up where he left off Thursday night with a three ball on MT's second possession.

The Blue Raiders re-took the lead 11-10 at the 13:50 mark and as the second media break neared a Jayce Johnson layup forced a timeout by UAB Head Coach Andy Kennedy with MT on top 16-12.

MT would hold onto the lead for final 13:43 of the first half as it was the Jordan Davis show on both ends of the floor. Davis tallied 12 points on 5 of 8 shooting with a pair of triples, assists and steals before the break.

But as UAB narrowed the gap to two with 18 seconds on the clock, it was Davis's childhood friend and teammate Dontrell Shuler who sent MT into the locker room with the momentum and a 5-point lead thanks to a deep, buzzer-beating 3-pointer.

Up 32-27, the Raiders got the ball first out of the break and wasted no time opening up their largest lead of the game on bucket in the post by Jayce Johnson.

It was the Blue Raider defense, however, that looked to take control after halftime as the Blazers struggled to score just nine points through the first eight and a half minutes of the second frame.

But just as they did Thursday evening, the Blazers began to catch fire with just over 10 minutes remaining as a 7-0 run gave UAB its first lead in 24 minutes of game time at 43-41.

UAB extended its run to 16-0 before MT finally stopped the bleeding with Johnson providing the first Blue Raider points in nearly seven minutes and the first Raider field goal in over eight minutes with just 4:47 on the game clock.

Shuler scored on the next trip down, but the Blue Raiders had a hill to climb as they went into the game's final media timeout trailing 52-45 on the road.

Middle Tennessee collected just three more field goals as UAB sealed it at the free throw line with help from a technical foul call that gave the Blazers tow extra freebies on the way to an 11-point victory.

Davis led all scorers with 14 points on the night despite scoring only two in the second half and added three steals. Johnson collected 13 points and a team-high eight rebounds. Tyson Jackson added 10 points and six boards while UAB had five scorers in double figures.

"Because of some consistent practices our performances have started to get better, but we're still missing some key components in Jalen (Jordan), Eli (Lawrence) and Donovan (Sims)," McDevitt added. "You can see that at times effecting our fatigue, especially as we get deeper into the game. We had some heavy legs tonight, but we're going to keep battling."

The Blue Raiders are back in action on Friday and Saturday as they return home to host the Charlotte 49ers (9-7, 5-3).

Murphy Center will be open to fans for the first time this season when the Niners come to town, opening doors to season ticket holders and students at a limited capacity of 10 percent.

"Charlotte is one of the times on our side of the standings that we need to catch, and having fans back in Murphy Center will certainly give us a little more energy to close out some games and improve our position, so we can't wait to see them in the stands next weekend," McDevitt exclaimed.