ROCK HILL, S.C. — McNeese beat UAB 99-78 on Monday in the Field of 68 Opening Day Marathon at the Rock Hill Sports & Event Center, spoiling the Blazers’ season opener.
UAB started fast, but McNeese answered with a run led by Larry Johnson, who scored nine straight points before Elijah “Choppa” Moore’s three-pointer stretched the run to 12-0 and gave the Cowboys an 18-15 lead with 9:12 left in the first half. McNeese led 44-35 at halftime and never looked back, shooting 66% in the second half.
Johnson, the sophomore guard who broke Joe Dumars’ 44-year-old McNeese freshman scoring record last season, scored a career-high 31 points, 20 in the first half, on 13-of-21 shooting, with five rebounds and four assists. Jaylon Dean-Vines added a career-best 17 points, and Moore scored 15, including five three-pointers. Alier Maluk, Jerrell Colbert and Christian Nitu each scored eight.
McNeese shot 55% from the field and 12-of-27 from three-point range, outrebounded UAB 33-26 and turned 14 UAB turnovers into 18 points.
For UAB, Elijah Duval led with 15 points, followed by Deuce Jones with 12, Justyn Fernandez with 11, and Salim London and T.J. Caldwell with 10 each. London, the only returning player from last season’s roster, came off the bench with 10 points in head coach Andy Kennedy’s seventh season.
UAB makes its home debut Friday against Nicholls at 6:30 p.m. at Bartow Arena, on ESPN+.