UAB hands Georgia hoops its second loss

The Associated Press

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Howard Crawford scored 17 of his 21 points in the second half to help Alabama-Birmingham defeat Georgia 72-56 on Saturday night.

The Blazers (4-1) fell behind 3-0 in the opening minute, then scored 12 consecutive points and never trailed again.

"We thought we could press them because of their size," UAB coach Mike Davis said. "They're a long team. We're not that good of a team yet in halfcourt, so we're trying to get points in transition, and we were able to do that off the turnovers."

The Bulldogs (1-2) finished with 17 turnovers in the game, with eight occurring in the first six minutes. By then, the Blazers had built a 23-6 lead.

"That's the sign of a young, immature basketball team," Georgia coach Mark Fox said. "Going on the road, we weren't prepared for what we walked into."

Georgia briefly regrouped and went on an 11-0 run to close the gap to 23-17. The Blazers responded with 10 consecutive points on their way to a 35-22 halftime lead.

UAB maintained a double-digit lead the rest of the way, thanks partly to Crawford, who sank three 3-pointers in the second half.

"We knew we had to make Howard Crawford our go-to guy this year, and he's way ahead of schedule," Davis said. "He's a guy with size (6-foot-8) who can really shoot it from outside."

UAB's Jamarr Sanders scored 13 of his 16 points after halftime to go along with five assists. Elijah Millsap added 14 points and six rebounds.

Dustin Ware led Georgia with 17 points, Jeremy Price added 13 and Travis Leslie had 10 points and a game-high nine rebounds.

Trey Thompkins, who entered the game leading Georgia in scoring at 19.5 points per game, managed only four points on 2-of-11 shooting.

"He's a great player, so we tried to make everything tough for him," Davis said. "Every catch, every drive. We didn't want to give him anything easy."