UAB Defeats St. Joe’s In NIT, Advances To PLAY SANTA CLARA
By Steve Irvine
BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - March 20, 2025
The UAB men’s basketball team extended their season with defense and grit during a 69-65 NIT first round win over Saint Joseph’s on Wednesday at Hagan Arena in Philadelphia. In other words, it wasn’t necessarily the typical formula that the Blazers won games this season.
“Man, what a gutsy win,” Andy Kennedy said during his postgame interview on Blazer Sports Network from Learfield. “I thought we came out with the right approach and our defense kept us in the game early. The start of the second half, we have a let down. St. Joe's is a good basketball team, 8-1 in this building in the A-10. And they made plays. The next thing you know, we're down seven, we're down eight. We're bleeding a little bit. I went to the 2-3 zone, and I thought the 2-3 zone slowed them some. As a result, we were able to manufacture enough baskets.”
And that turned out to be a winning formula for a UAB team that will fly across the country for a NIT second round game against Santa Clara on Sunday.
Both teams were disjointed offensively from the start, partly because of the defense play on both sides. UAB (23-12) shot 36.8 percent from the field and hurt itself with 14 turnovers. St. Joe’s only turned the ball over eight times but the Hawks (22-13) made just 33.3 percent from the field and hit 21.2 percent from outside the 3-point arc. Two of the standouts from each team – UAB’s Yaxel Lendeborg and St. Joe’s Rasheer Fleming – were good examples of the spotty offensive night.
Both Lendeborg and Fleming were playing in front of a host of NBA scouts and executives, including Boston Celtics general manager Brad Stevens, on hand to see the two NBA prospects play against each other. Lendeborg certainly won that battle but it was far from an easy night for the 6-foot-9 senior from nearby Pennsauken, N.J., who was playing in front of a large group of family and friends. Lendeborg produced 16 points, 17 rebounds, three assists, three steals and two blocked shots. He had his 24th double-double, which is tied for most in the country this season. But he was just 5-for-16 from the field and had a season-high seven turnovers.
“You never question his effort, but he was off all night,” Kennedy said. “He was rushing some things.”
UAB was able to fill some of his usual production with contributions from Chris Coleman and Bradley Ezewiro. Coleman wasn’t in the starting lineup but came off the bench to contribute 15 points, seven rebounds and a blocked shot. Ezewiro, who started for just the second time this season, had nine points, five rebounds, all on the offensive end, and a blocked shot.
On the other side, Fleming never got going. The 6-foot-9 junior was in foul trouble throughout and had just six points and two rebounds in 17 minutes.
St. Joe’s was still able to lead for a large chunk of the second half. The Hawks managed to grab a 33-32 halftime lead and was able to extend that to eight points with just under eight minutes left in the game. UAB never let the lead get larger than that but the Blazers played from behind for most of the second half. It wasn’t until Alejandro Vasquez and Ja’Borri McGhee combined on a 6-0 run, capped by two McGhee free throws with 2:57 remaining, that UAB regained the lead. McGhee’s free throws made the score 62-61 and Coleman’s dunk, after Lendeborg fed him on the fastbreak, upped the advantage to three with 2:19 remaining.
UAB got back-to-back defensive stops before another Coleman dunk, this one following a McGhee assist, gave UAB a 66-61 lead with 1:25 remaining. St. Joe’s scored the next four points, the second bucket coming after a Lendeborg turnover, to cut the deficit to one and Lendeborg made the first of two free throws with 23 seconds left. St. Joe’s appeared to tie the score with 5.7 seconds left on a tip-in by Fleming. But the officials ruled that Fleming touched the basketball in the cylinder and the call was upheld after a video review. McGhee then iced the game with two free throws.