Hot-shooting UAB Blazers down UTSA, 83-73

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The UAB Blazers shot 53.6 percent from the field Saturday night and walloped the UTSA Roadrunners, 83-73, in a Conference USA game at Birmingham.

UAB knocked down 30 of 56 shots from the floor for the second-best shooting night against the Roadrunners this season.

Only South Dakota State, hitting 60 percent at the Gulf Coast Showcase in Florida on Nov. 20, shot it better than UAB against a usually sound UTSA defense.

Senior guard Jalen Perry led six UAB players in double figures with 18 points.

Center Makhtar Gueye hurt the Roadrunners on both ends of the floor, as the 6-10 post produced 11 points, 10 rebounds and two blocks.

Keaton Wallace led the Roadruners with 33 points and eight rebounds.

Disappointing trip

It was the second loss in three nights on a disappointing Conference USA road trip for UTSA.

After starting the trip on a seven-game winning streak, the Roadrunners fell from first in the conference by stumbling against both Middle Tennessee and UAB.

UTSA trailed by 21 in the second half at last-place Middle Tennessee on Thursday and rallied at the end, coming up short, 89-86.

Scoring droughts

Against the Blazers, the Roadrunners started fast but went through three extended scoring droughts.

As a result, they were playing from behind for most of the night.

Early in the second half, they rallied to within two and then faltered, giving up a 12-0 run burying them in a 14-point deficit with 12:52 left.

The Roadrunners fell behind by 20 at one point and came no closer than eight the rest of the way.

Records

UTSA 10-9, 4-2
UAB 12-7, 4-2

Coming up

UTSA plays twice at home next week, hosting Charlotte on Thursday and Old Dominion on Saturday.

Notable

The back-to-back losses were the first for UTSA since November against UC Irvine and South Dakota State in Florida. Those losses capped an 0-5 start to the season.

Quotable

“Road trip wasn’t good for us. Our guys are practicing the right way. I got to help ’em figure out how we can get better offensively. This was probably one of our worst defensive games, but a lot of that was them — they just attacked us.” — UTSA coach Steve Henson