Johnson leads UAB to thrilling win at Rice

By Steve Irvine

BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - February 20, 2025

UAB coach Andy Kennedy and his Rice counterpart Rob Lanier had different feelings after Wednesday night’s hard-to-explain Blazer victory on the road. But they were undoubtedly asking the same question.

How in the world did UAB find a way to escape with a 90-89 victory in the down-to-the-wire American Athletic Conference game at Tudor Fieldhouse on the Rice campus?

Truth is, you probably had to see the final 5.7 seconds to believe it. Tyren Moore began the crazy final seconds by leaning into Rice defender Jacob Dar while shooting a 3-pointer. Rice led 89-86 at the time and Moore went to the line with a chance to tie the game by making all three free throws. However, Moore missed the first attempt before rattling home the next two.

That’s when it got weird.

Yaxel Lendeborg got inside on the third attempt, just in case there was a miss, and was shoved from behind by Rice’s Caden Powell. The officials called the foul on Powell, giving Lendeborg two free throws with 5.7 seconds still on the clock. Lendeborg made both free throws to give UAB the one-point advantage and Kennedy called a timeout.

“I told the team, I said, ‘Listen, guys, this is a veteran crew, here's what's going to happen. They're going to drive that thing a hundred miles an hour. If you put a finger on him, it's going to be a foul,’” Kennedy said.

Sure enough, Rice’s Kellen Amos took the inbounds pass and raced down the court. He started toward the basket before colliding with UAB’s Ja’Borri McGhee on the right wing. The officials whistled the foul on McGhee, giving Amos a pair of free throws with 1.8 seconds on the clock.

 “I made a mistake,” Kennedy said. “I mean, (McGhee) he's a good defender, but he shouldn't have been in that position. He kind of chested him up, which is a non-call during the game. But in that moment, I was anticipating a foul and the basketball gods were smiling on us.”

The smile came because Amos missed both free throw attempts and the clock ran out before anybody could secure the loose ball after the second miss. Somehow, the Blazers (17-9 overall, 10-3 AAC) escaped with a win that kept them tied with North Texas for second place in the conference.

“Great resilience by my group,” Kennedy said. “Certainly not our best night, but I told them in the locker room, we've won 17 games now, and I will dare to say there's not one of those 17 that we won when you look at, you're like, man, you were really fortunate to win that game. This is the first one. And all the other games, we were the better team, even though we make it perilous at times, but we were the better team. Tonight, we're playing from behind. We still lead the game more than they do, 21 lead changes, 16 ties, but big plays down the stretch for the good guys.”

Efrem “Butta” Johnson had a lot to do with the big moments down the stretch, especially with the Blazers struggling to make defensive stops. Just as he did in Sunday’s win over South Florida, Johnson made several clutch shots down the stretch. He scored 13 of his career-best 24 points in the final 6:23 of the game. Nine of those points came on 3-pointers and each one kept UAB in the game. Rice (12-15 overall, 3-11 AAC) built a five-point lead  with under two minutes remaining when Johnson hit a 3-pointer with 1:37 left to trim the deficit to 83-81. After a Rice bucket, Johnson hit another 3-pointer to cut Rice’s lead to 85-84 with 1:02 left.

“Huge night for him,” Kennedy said of Johnson, who was 10-of-13 overall from the field and 4-of-6 on 3-pointers. “Again, he’s coming off a big game in the last one against South Florida, where he made huge plays for us down the stretch. Hopefully, this one turns Butta into the one we all know and love.”

Lendeborg finished with 21 points and 14 rebounds, giving him his eighth double-double in a row and 18th overall this season. Eight of his rebounds came on the offensive end and he added two assists, two blocked shots and a steal with just one turnover. Bradley Ezewiro added 12 points, three rebounds, a block and a steal and Christian Coleman had nine points and seven rebounds.

UAB won points in the paint (38-20), total rebounds (42-36), offensive rebounds (20-14) and second chance points (20-17). The Blazers had 22 assists, with Moore contributing eight of those assists, and just three turnovers.

The Blazers return to Bartow Arena on Sunday afternoon for an AAC game against Temple with tip-off scheduled for 1 p.m.