Birmingham, AL (Sports Network) - The UAB Blazers earned their first win in
Conference USA play this season as they downed the Texas-El Paso Miners,
78-72, in overtime thanks to a 24 point performance from Jordan Swing at the
Bartow Arena.
Coming off the bench, Swing was 8-of-16 from the field and recorded six
assists for the Blazers (9-12, 1-5 C-USA), who happily saw their six-game
losing streak come to a close. Rod Rucker nearly had a double-double with 18
points and nine rebounds to go with two blocks and two steals. Fahro Alihodzic
had 12 points and eight rebounds while Robert Williams added 11 points and two
steals.
For UTEP (11-8, 4-2), McKenzie Moore led the way with 18 points off 3-of-4
shooting from long-range while the Miners brief two-game winning streak ended.
Konner Tucker scored 16 points and Julian Washburn added 12. John Bohannon
gathered 10 boards and was the games top rebounder.
The Blazers shot just 33.3 percent from the field in the first half and
trailed 28-24 at the break.
In the second half, UAB shot 55.2 percent from the field and were able to make
four more field goals than the Miners who also shot efficiently at 57.1
percent. Swing made a layup to tie the game with five seconds left in
regulation and Jacques Streeter's go-ahead attempt at the buzzer was no good,
which sent the contest into overtime.
UAB led throughout the entire overtime period, going 4-of-5 from the field and
making 6-of-8 free-throw attempts to secure the long overdue win.
UTEP turned the ball over 21 times which led to 25 points for the
opportunistic Blazers.
GAME NOTES:
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