Tulane University
UAB
UAB Outlasts Hobbled Green Wave, 58-49
Jan 9, 2010 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 9, 2010
NEW ORLEANS - Without the services of starting guard Aaron Holmes and having starting point guard Kevin Sims go down with an injury 12 minutes into the game, the Tulane Green Wave still fought hard, but fell just short in a 58-49 loss to UAB on Saturday night in Fogelman Arena.
Holmes was out with a wrist injury, while Sims injured his wrist midway through the first half of the game.
"I thought going into the game with a healthy Tulane team that we would have a chance to get a win tonight," Tulane head coach Dave Dickerson said. "Take nothing away from UAB. They are a very good team, but when you have two of your starters out it takes a lot away from your team. UAB did a great job of taking advantage of us being short handed, but our guys fought hard and gave us a chance to win in the second half and that is all you can ask for under the situation we were in."
In the absence of Holmes, redshirt freshman Kendall Timmons got the start and led the Green Wave (5-10, 0-2 C-USA) with a season-high 16 points in 23 minutes of action. David Booker and Asim McQueen each posted nine points for Tulane.
With Sims on the bench for most of the game, Trent Rogers played 26 minutes as the point guard and collected four points, two rebounds and a game-high four steals.
Tulane scored the first points of the game on a Timmons jumper and then led 5-3 with 15:54 left in the opening half after Timmons converted a lay-up, but UAB (14-2, 2-0 C-USA) then used a 7-0 run to take a 10-5 lead.
The Green Wave fought back and retook a 15-14 lead on a Booker 3-pointer with 10:01 left in the half. The Blazers, who have now won three straight games, used an 11-0 run to pull away with a double digit lead.
A free throw by Rogers with 0:01 remaining in the half cut the UAB lead to 27-18 at the break.
Tulane scored six of the first nine points of the second half to cut the lead back to six, 30-24, before UAB grabbed a double digit lead again and a pair of Howard Crawford field goals. The Blazers held as much as a n 11-point lead in the later stages of the game before Tulane cut the lead to 46-41 after a McQueen lay-up and free throw with 3:33 remaining. Unfortunately, the Green Wave could not get any closer that as UAB scored 12 of the final 20 points to hang on to the win.
A Booker 3-pointer with 0:05 left made the final the nine-point differential.
Elijah Millsap led UAB with 13 points and a game-high 10 rebounds, while Crawford finished with 13 points and seven boards. The Blazers shot 41.3 percent from the floor and won the rebound battle, 36-27.
Tulane shot 36.2 percent from the floor and managed to hit just 13 of 21 from the free throw line. The Green Wave defense did force 18 UAB turnovers, collected nine steals and scored 17 points off the turnovers.
Sims finished the game with three rebounds and one assist for the Green Wave after leaving with under eight minutes remaining in the first half.
Tulane will remain home for a mini two-game home stand and host Rice on Wednesday at 7 p.m. CST in Fogelman Arena.
