BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Georgia Southern held a high-scoring Alabama-Birmingham offense to a season low on Wednesday night, but couldn’t get past the Blazers in the first game of 2013 as UAB took a 65-61 victory.
    Georgia Southern is back at Hanner Fieldhouse on Saturday night against North Carolina A&T with tickets available for $1.
    “I think we are getting better every time we take the court,” said GSU coach Charlton Young. “UAB didn’t press us tonight, but we still turned the ball over 23 times. We did a lot of things right, we rebounded the ball well and moved the ball very well. We did all the things it takes to win, but the turnovers hurt us tonight.”
    The Eagles held UAB to its lowest output of the season at home as the Blazers scored 65 points behind Terrence Jones, who dropped 19 points with seven assists to lead the hosts while Rod Rucker added 16 points.
    The Eagles were paced by C.J. Reed, who scored 22 points on 4 of 7 shooting from beyond the arc.
    The senior, however, was responsible for eight of the Eagles’ 23 turnovers.
    Tre Bussey scored 17 points with a perfect 3 for 3 mark downtown.
    Eric Ferguson posted a double-double for the fourth time this season and 11th time in his career with 12 points and 12 rebounds. Ferguson is three rebounds shy of the 500 rebound mark for his career. Ferguson also blocked two shots and lead the Eagles with three assists. As a team, Georgia Southern out-rebounded UAB 36-30.
 with a 12-11 edge on the offensive glass.

Kameron Dunnican had seven rebounds, a career-high, while matching his career-high with three blocks. Marvin Baynham added six points with three rebounds.

Georgia Southern led by as many as four in the early minutes of the game. UAB, however, was able to squeeze out a three-point advantage at the halftime interval, a lead that would grow to eight points as Georgia Southern was unable to score in the first three and a half minutes in the second half.

The Eagles’ would get within two points with 6:24 remaining before the Blazers took the lead back to nine points with 3:11 left. GSU made another run in the final minute of the game, cutting the UAB advantage to three points twice in the final 60 seconds. UAB made their free throws down the stretch to cement the 65-61 victory.

With the loss, Georgia Southern falls to 6-8 on the year while UAB improves to 8-6 in 2012-13