Big Games From SEVERAL Blazers AS UAB Cruises Past Temple
By Steve Irvine
BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - February 23, 2025
There wasn’t a lot of drama built into UAB’s 80-64 American Athletic Conference victory over Temple on Sunday afternoon at Bartow Arena. But the lack of drama didn’t mean there wasn’t interesting storylines in a game that the Blazers led for more than 34 minutes.
You want storylines?
How about UAB Yaxel Lendeborg and Ja’Borri McGhee each chasing and nearly completing the elusive triple-double. Or how about Tony Toney shooting out of the gate – literally – with three 3-pointers by the time the game was six minutes old and adding another with seven minutes left in the first half. Or how about Chris Coleman contributing 12 points, seven rebounds, two assists and two blocks after shaking off illness that made him questionable to play. Or how about Bradley Ezewiro muscling his way to 15 points, including three second half dunks, and seven rebounds?
Put all of those together and you have the recipe for a win that kept UAB (18-9 overall, 11-3 C-USA) in a second-place tie in The American with North Texas. Both teams trail Memphis by a game in the loss column with four games left to play for UAB and North Texas and three games for Memphis.
The UAB win came on a day when Temple (14-14 overall, 6-9 AAC) played without leading scorer Jamal Mashburn Jr. and third leading scorer Quante Berry because of injury. Mashburn, who is the country’s third leading scorer at 22 points per game, has played in just one of the team’s past six games because of a toe injury. Berry, who averages 12.4 points per game, hurt his wrist during a loss at Charlotte on Wednesday. UAB head coach Andy Kennedy said they prepared for both to play and had to tweak the game plan just before tip-off.
Toney played a big part of making the new plan work by hitting the early 3-pointers. It was the first time in nine games that he made more than one 3-pointer in a game. That shooting helped UAB take a 41-32 lead into halftime. By that point, it was also evident that Lendeborg and McGhee were in position for a possible triple-double.
At halftime, Lendeborg had seven points, five rebounds and five assists in 18 minutes. He finished with 13 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists in 31 minutes. It was his 19th double-double of the season and second time he had double digits in points and rebounds to go with eight assists. Kennedy took him out of the game with 5:21 left with plans of getting him back in the game.
“I didn't mean to sit him at the end,” Kennedy said. “I was going to put him back in but I thought Chris and Brad were really playing well. I was going to rest him and then the game got completely out of control. So, I didn't want to risk injury with him and I like (Temple coach) Adam Fisher and didn't want to be unsportsmanlike.”
Lendeborg actually was at the scorer’s table with more than three minutes on the clock but it took more than a minute on the clock for a stoppage so Kennedy called him back to the bench.
“I would say this is the most frustrated I've ever been in (chasing a triple-double),” said Lendeborg, who has been close to at least five triple-doubles this season. “It sounds kind of weird and wrong, but yeah, I was a little frustrated. It's just because you're that close down at the end. I've been chasing this, like it feels like I'm chasing a ghost, you know, for a long time. And I keep getting right there, you know, right there, opening the door and I just can't grab it.”
McGhee nearly beat him to it. At halftime, McGhee had three points, seven rebounds and five assists. He finished with 13 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists in 31 minutes. It was McGhee’s first double-double at UAB.
“He had more rebounds than me at some point,” Lendeborg said with a smile. “I don't care but I can't let that happen, so we started having a little bit of competition on the boards. He was telling me about that a lot. I mean, to an extent, I would have been happy for him, then I would have been a little jealous.”
Ezewiro and Coleman also played a big role in helping UAB win points in the paint (44-38), total rebounds (47-31), offensive rebounds (21-10) and second chance points (26-9).
UAB moves on to a critical week with a visit to red-hot Wichita State on Thursday and a home game against Memphis on Sunday. Wichita State extended its win streak to six games on Sunday with a 78-67 victory over Tulane.