Good evening, the UAB basketball team is at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas tonight and earned a hard-fought 88-86 overtime victory over Utah Valley in the NIT semifinals.
The Blazers improve to 29-9 overall -- winning 16 of their last 18 games and setting the program record for wins in a season -- and advance to face C-USA rival North Texas in the NIT title game on Thursday at 8:30 p.m. CT on ESPN2. UAB defeated Southern Miss and Morehead State at home in the first two rounds of the NIT, advanced to Las Vegas with a quarterfinal win at Vanderbilt last week and is one win shy of hoisting a postseason trophy for the first time in program history.
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UAB finished shooting 40.5 percent overall, 43.8 percent from 3-point range, and wee 17-for-22 at the charity stripe. The Wolverines were 41.9 percent from the field and enjoyed a plus-2 edge on the glass and a plus-7 advantage on interior scoring, but allowed the Blazers to score 18 points off 11 turnovers.
Ty Brewer matched his career-high of 30 points, adding five steals, and produced his second double-double of the season by grabbing 12 rebounds. Jordan “Jelly” Walker finished with 17 points, five boards, six assists and two steals, followed by Eric Gaines with 13 points, three rebounds and two assists. Javian Davis added seven points and three boards and KJ Buffen and Trey Jemison scored six points each and combined for 13 rebounds. Stay tuned to al.com/uab for postgame coverage.
FINAL/OT: UAB 88, Utah Valley 86
-- Jordan Walker is fouled with half a second remaining and makes 1-of-2 free-throw attempts to force a no-win scenario for the Wolverines with a last-second full-court heave.
-- Utah Valley’s Le’Tre Darthard hits a second-chance 3-pointer with four seconds left to cut the lead down to 87-86 and the Wolverines are forced to foul on the ensuing possession.
-- Jordan Walker is fouled and increases the UAB advantage on a pair of free throws with 12 seconds remaining.
-- Ty Brewer matches his career high of 30 points to break the tie with 45 seconds remaining in overtime and Utah Valley turns it over on a shot clock violation inside 16 seconds.
-- Utah Valley hits a 4-0 spurt after KJ Buffen fouls out and ties the game on 1-of-2 free throws from Tim Fuller.
-- Trey Jemison pushes the lead to five points on a layup and Gaines answers a Utah Valley score to keep the UAB advantage at 83-78.
-- Eric Gaines hits a running jumper and follows it up with a 3-pointer on his first attempt of the game to give UAB a 79-76 lead with 4:15 left in overtime.
-- Utah Valley wins the tip and Le’Tre Darthard hits a pair of free throws to open the overtime session.
END SECOND HALF: UAB 74, Utah Valley 74
-- Jordan Walker’s last two shots come up short and we’re heading to overtime.
-- Utah Valley’s Trey Woodbury scores off a Jordan Walker miss and ties the game at 74-all with 34 seconds remaining in the game.
-- The Blazers force a turnover out of the timeout and Ty Brewer finishes on the fast break to give UAB a 74-70 lead before Trey Woodbury hits a pair of free throws to cut the lead back down to a single possession.
-- UAB 72, Utah Valley 70 (2:36) | Under-4 timeout: Jordan Walker scores before the final media break, ending a 6-2 run by the Wolverines that tied the game at 70-all.
-- Eric Gaines drives the lane for a tough layup following the timeout and UAB powers ahead to a 66-62 lead on a 3-pointer from Ty Brewer.
-- Utah Valley 62, UAB 61 (8:06) | Under-8 timeout: Tim Fuller grabs a layup and Utah Valley completes a 10-2 run to take its first lead of the day and Andy Kennedy calls a timeout to regroup the Blazers.
-- KJ Buffen picks up his fourth foul and Utah Valley cuts the lead back down to a single point on a pair of free throws from Justin Harmon.
-- UAB 61, Utah Valley 58 (10:25) | Under-11 timeout: The Wolverines increase their push to an 11-4 run, pulling within a single point with 11:15 left in the game, but KJ Buffen answers before Trey Jemison is called for a foul at the media break.
-- Jordan Walker drives and scores on a fall-away jumper out of the timeout but Utah Valley’s Tahj Small answers to keep the margin at five points.
-- UAB 57, Utah Valley 51 (12:50) | Under-14 timeout: Justin Harmon and Trey Woodbury answer for the Wolverines and the latter has an and-1 opportunity following the break.
-- Ty Brewer drains his third 3-pointer and Eric Gaines knocks down a pair of free throws to push the UAB lead to 55-47 with 14:21 remaining in the game.
-- Utah Valley’s Trey Woodbury is fouled on a made basket and completes the 3-point plat to cut the lead back down to five points.
-- KJ Buffen grabs a layup on a Walker assist out of the timeout and the latter hits a trio of free throws after being fouled on a 3-point attempt.
-- UAB 45, Utah Valley 42 (16:37) | Under-17 timeout: The Blazers allow a quick 5-0 spurt from Utah Valley with Aziz Bandaogo rising for a 3-pointer before turning it over at the media break.
-- Both teams turn it over during the opening minute and Jordan Walker feeds Trey Jemison underneath for the first points of the half.
HALFTIME: UAB 41, Utah Valley 37
-- Jordan Walker hits a last-second jump shot to push the Blazers ahead at the break.
-- Utah Valley’s Trey Woodbury scores out of the timeout and the Wolverines go 3-of-6 on free throws in the final 40 seconds to cut the lead down to a single possession.
-- UAB 39, Utah Valley 32 (1:22) | Under-4 timeout: The Blazers answer the Utah Valley push and are currently on a 7-2 run ignited by a 3-pointer from Tony Toney.
-- The Wolverines hit a 9-1 run, cutting the UAB lead down to two points, and Andy Kennedy calls a timeout with the Blazers leading 29-27.
-- Potter scores for the Wolverines out of the timeout to trim the UAB lead down to 28-23 with 6:27 remaining in the opening period.
-- UAB 28, Utah Valley 21 (7:12) | Under-8 timeout: The Blazers increase their lead back to 10 points on a Trey Jemiosn putback but Utah Valley’s Ethan Potter hits a 3-pointer and the Wolverines grab possession before the media break.
-- Ty Brewer grabs a putback dunk to increase his total to 11 points and a pair of free throws from Tavin Lovan increases the UAB lead to 24-14 with 9:15 left in the half.
-- Eric Gaines scores on a layup out of the timeout, missing the and-1 opportunity, but Javian Davis follows up on the next possession to give the Blazers a 17-9 lead midway through the first half.
-- UAB 13, Utah Valley 7 (11:57) | Under-12 timeout: The Blazers are currently on a 2:07 scoring drought, held without a field goal for more than four minutes, and the Wolverines cut into the deficit on a Justin Harmon jump shot.
-- Blaze Nield turns it over for Utah Valley following the media timeout and Javian Davis hits a pair of free throws on the other end following a foul on Aziz Bandaogo.
-- UAB 11, Utah Valley 5 (14:33) | Under-16 timeout: Jordan Walker drains his first 3-pointer of the game and Utah Valley’s Justin Harmon answers with his own shot on the other end.
-- Ty Brewer gets on a personal 6-0 run, beginning with a dunk off an assist from Jordan Walker and grabbing consecutive layups to give UAB an 8-0 lead not more than three minutes into the game.
-- Utah Valley wins the tip and both teams come up empty on their first possession before UAB’s KJ Buffen knocks down a pair of free throws for an early 2-0 lead over the Wolverines.
PREGAME
-- Utah Valley head coach Mark Madsen will coach the Wolverines tonight after flying down to Las Vegas today. The fourth-year coach, who is expected to take the head coach position at Cal, according to Stadium’s Jeff Goodman, was awaiting the birth of his fourth child.
UAB lineup: G Jordan Walker, G Tavin Lovan, G Ty Brewer, F KJ Buffen, C Trey Jemison
Utah Valley lineup: G Justin Harmon, G Le’Tre Darthard, G Trey Woodbury, F Tim Fuller, C Aziz Bandaogo
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