Marquette University Athletics
Marquette University
UAB (C-USA Tournament)
No. 8 Marquette Downed By UAB
3/13/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 13, 2003
By CHRIS DUNCAN
AP Sports Writer
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Eric Bush scored 17 points and tied a Conference USA tournament record with six steals to lead Alabama-Birmingham to an 83-76 upset of the top-seeded Golden Eagles in the tournament quarterfinals on Thursday night.
Morris Finley scored 23 points and Demario Eddins added 16 points and five steals for the Blazers (18-11), who set a tournament record with 20 steals.
UAB will face the winner of Thursday night's final quarterfinal game between Saint Louis and Southern Mississippi.
The Golden Eagles committed a season-high 30 turnovers, also a tournament record.
"It was just a matter of us not being strong with the ball," said Marquette point guard Travis Diener, who led his team with 19 points. "I don't know how many teams are going to win with 30 turnovers. That's way too high. We've got to fix that, and fix it quick."
Marquette defeated UAB 98-87 just 12 days ago, overcoming 21 turnovers by holding the Blazers to 39 percent shooting.
The Blazers were much more accurate in the rematch, going 29-of-57 from the field (51 percent), the best shooting performance against Marquette this season.
"None of us are shocked. We knew we could compete with them," said Bush, UAB's point guard, who also had five assists.
Dwyane Wade, the conference's player of the year, set a tournament record with 10 turnovers as Marquette (23-5) lost for just the second time in 17 games.
UAB coach Mike Anderson said the loss earlier this month helped the Blazers Thursday.
"Playing Marquette a little more than a week ago gave us some familiarity with them," Anderson said. "We had nothing to lose coming into this game. Our guys were not afraid. Our guys are believers, they came out and executed the game plan."
Despite the sloppiness, Marquette still had a chance to win the game in the final minutes.
Diener sank a 3-pointer from the top of the key with 2:20 left to give the Eagles their first lead of the second half, at 74-73.
The lead changed hands three times before Marquette center Robert Jackson stepped on the baseline with 50.6 seconds left.
Bush drove into the lane and made an acrobatic one-hander with 29 seconds left to put the Blazers up 79-76.
Finley then stole a lazy pass by Wade in the backcourt and was fouled.
Bush tugged at his jersey and flexed his muscles before Finley iced the win with two free throws with 20.7 seconds remaining.
"We knew they were a very good team, but it's really hard for them to play that many minutes against the way we played," Bush said. "It was a matter of wear and tear toward the end, and we prevailed."
The Golden Eagles were lucky to trail only 40-36 at halftime after committing 15 turnovers in the first half. Marquette had fewer than 15 turnovers in 20 games this season.
Marquette stayed close by outrebounding the Blazers 22-13 in the first half and hitting five of its first 10 3-point shots.
Marquette outrebounded UAB 38-22 for the game.
Wade sank two free throws with 2:22 left before halftime to cut UAB's early lead to 31-28. The conference's leading scorer had only four points on 1-for-6 shooting in the first half. He finished 3-of-12.
Finley hit his first 3-pointer of the game 30 seconds after Wade's free throws and Eddins made a steal and scored on a breakaway layup to extend the lead to eight.
Diener sank a pair of 3-pointers to close the gap again, but Derrick Broom was fouled after UAB's 11th steal of the first half and sank two free throws with 1 second left.
The ninth-seeded Blazers are the lowest seed to reach the tournament semifinals since 2000, when ninth-seeded Saint Louis made it. The Billikens went on to win the tournament.
Marquette coach Tom Crean insisted his team wasn't looking past the Blazers.
"There was no underestimating the opponent," said Crean, the league's coach of the year. "We've had excellent practices. For some reason, we did not play as well as we needed to at the beginning. Even as we came back, they played just a little bit better."
