UAB finishes strong in OT, beats Rice 88-81 (Jan 07, 2017)

By AP
Published

HOUSTON (AP) William Lee scored 20 points, Chris Cokley had 12 points and 12 rebounds and UAB dominated the overtime period to beat Rice 88-81 on Saturday night.

After a slow start in overtime for both teams, the Blazers (9-7, 2-1 Conference USA) had a 7-0 run started by Cokley's jumper with 1:52 left and capped at 86-78 on Hakeem Baxter's free throws with 15 seconds left.

The Owls (11-6, 1-3) missed their first six shots from the field in overtime and Marcus Evans' layup with 10 seconds left was too late to affect the outcome but did make him the 32nd player in Rice history with 1,000 points.

UAB had a 12-3 run to lead 71-67 with 2:47 left in regulation. Rice tied it up at 73, and then Denzell Watts hit a 3 for the Blazers with 2.5 seconds. Rice's Egor Koulechov drew a foul on 3-point attempt with 0.6 seconds and made all three free throws to send it to overtime.

Koulechov had 29 points and Evans 23 for the Owls.