Nov. 9, 2000

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM - Five UAB players scored in double figures as the Blazers dispatched the California All-Stars 95-82 in NCAA men's basketball exhibition play Thursday evening at Bartow Arena.

Newcomers Eric Batchelor and P.J. Arnold led the Blazers with 19 points each, followed by David Walker, Will Campbell and LeAndrew Bass with 10 apiece. Igor Nikolic led UAB with 12 rebounds.

"I saw some good things tonight," said UAB Coach Murry Bartow.

"I saw a lot of things we need to improve on. We gave up 51 points in the second half. They shoot mid-50's percentage wise in the second half. I thought we kind of lost our guard a little bit in the second half, but again some bright spots, 23 assists, seven turnovers. I'm not sure anytime last year we had 23 assists, so I think we are sharing the ball, moving the ball, which is good. We thought we would have a pretty balanced attack and we see that tonight with five guys in double figures and we felt like that would be the type of team this was."

Batchelor and Arnold -- both from Memphis, Tenn. -- came to UAB with much fanfare this fall, Batchelor from Holmes (Miss.) Community College and Arnold from Northeast Mississippi Community College. Both have reputations as strong perimeter scoring threats, and that showed in their first action in UAB uniforms. All six of Batchelor's field goals came from behind the three-point arc -- three in each half. All three of Arnold's three-pointers came in the second half.

UAB steadily built a first-half lead, and led by its largest margin, 15 points, at the half (46-31). Batchelor, Arnold and Bass all had nine points in the first half.

The Blazers continued to cruise through the second half, leading by as many as 27 points on two occasions, the last time at 78-51 with 9:03 to play.

Former St. John's guard Chudney Gray led the California All-Stars with 33 points. Kevin Simmons, who played college basketball at UNLV, scored 20 points and former Stanford forward Kris Weems had 15. The All-Stars were playing their eighth game in nine days.

UAB will play its final exhibition of the 2000-01 preseason next Wednesday (Nov.15) vs. Marathon Basketball at Bartow Arena (tipoff 7:00 pm CST).