After a triumphant late game surge, Virginia Commonwealth University came close but could not surpass University of Alabama - Birmingham Wednesday night, who ended the Rams' postseason with a 80-77 victory in first round action of the National Invitation Tournament.
Though they were down by 11 points at the half, and again down 11 points with less than two minutes to go before the final buzzer, VCU made a spectacular comeback in the waning minutes of the game to pull within one point of the UAB Blazers with only a few seconds left on the clock.
After a series of missed free throws by UAB and a crucial two-pointer by VCU freshman forward Lance Kearse with 19.4 seconds remaining, VCU was only down by three. To stop the clock, UAB's Aaron Johnson was quickly fouled and sent to the line with 17.8 seconds remaining, the Blazers leading 77-74.
After making only one of his free throws, VCU took possession and quickly connected the ball with Jamal Shuler, who put in a massive three-pointer to bring the Rams within one point.
Taking advantage of a defensive snafu, UAB's Reggie Huffman was able to cruise down the court to put in an easy lay-up, his 21st point of the night, with 5.8 seconds to go, giving the Blazers an 80-77 lead.
With one chance remaining, VCU hustled the ball back to their end of the court. Eric Maynor, who has proved himself in the final seconds of big tournament games before, was given a look at the hoop. He was able to fire off a three-point attempt before the buzzer, but his shot ricocheted of the back of the rim as the final buzzer sounded.
Though VCU made an amazing last minute stand, UAB head coach Mike Davis said his team's explosive first half really helped set his team up for the victory. Davis also said his team played one of the most complete games, at least in the first half of the game, that UAB has played all season.
"These were two really good basketball teams competing tonight and we were really fortunate to have a really good first half," he said. "[VCU] was kind of slow out of the box, but in the second half they made some really good shots. I'm not sure how many threes they made down the stretch but they made every good shot they needed to make."
VCU head coach Anthony Grant said he knew coming in to the game that UAB was a very good basketball team.
"Watching them on film, we had a chance to watch four or five games and there was a level of concern," he said. "I knew walking in that from an offensive standpoint they were extremely explosive and defensively they do a great job of changing defenses and creating havoc."
Maynor can attest to that. Though he finished the night with 22 total points, he was kept to just two points in the first half.
Defensively, VCU was simply dominated in the paint. Rams' normal enforcer 6-7 Wil Fameni has been suffering with knee tendonitis and only played for three minutes. Freshman defensive star Larry Sanders was kept to an uncharacteristically low three rebounds.
Besides Fameni, VCU senior Michael Anderson was also noticeably absent from the court. Though he was in uniform, coach Grant said after the game that Anderson was benched for undetermined infractions to team rules earlier this week.
After Wednesday's win, UAB advances to play Virginia Tech in second round NIT action.