It was a historic night for the UAB basketball program, setting multiple records across the board, and Jordan “Jelly” Walker and Trey “The Mayor” Jemison put the exclamation point on a job well done.

Leading by a single bucket following a second-chance 3-pointer from the opposition, Walker took the in-bounds pass and sprinted the right-side length of the court and easily tossed an alley-oop slam to Jemison to carry it home.

The Blazers were forced to find yet another way to win and manhandled their way on the inside to a 67-59 victory over Vanderbilt in the NIT quarterfinals, Wednesday, March 22, at Memorial Gym in Nashville.

UAB improves to 28-9 overall — setting the program record for most wins in a single season — and advances to its third NIT semifinal in school history after improving to 3-0 against the SEC this season and winning 15 of its last 17 games.

“That was just about desire and wanting to continue to play, that’s all it was for us,” UAB head coach Andy Kennedy said. “Certainly not our best game offensively, Vanderbilt had a lot to do with that, but I was really proud of our guys for finding ways on the defensive end.”

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The Blazers finished shooting only 37.5 percent from the field, a paltry 13.3 percent (2-of-15) on 3-pointers, but were a perfect 17-for-17 at the charity stripe. UAB edged out the Commodores on the interior, earning a plus-1 advantage on the glass and plus-4 on inside scoring, and scored 13 points off six turnovers in the second half.

“In the second half, we did a better job of taking what Vanderbilt was giving us,” Kennedy said. “Playing in the mid-range, playing inside-out and winning points in the paint. Proud of my guys for doing it a different way.”

Walker was held in check from 3-point range (1-of-8) but course-corrected his game in the second half and finished with a game-high 21 points on 7-of-22 shooting from the field and a perfect 6-for-6 at the foul line. He also set the UAB single-season scoring record with 698 points in his final campaign.

“We knew they were going to play drop coverage and usually those are easy shots for me,” Walker said. “I noticed they were spread out because they weren’t overhelping and knew it was going to be me and the big. Trey (Jemison), he sets amazing screens and if he hits somebody, I know that player is out of the picture.”

Walker added six assists to his line, giving up a single turnover, and set a new career-high with seven rebounds off long Vanderbilt misses.

“AK has been preaching that to me since I got here,” he said. “I’m a little guard so I have to get the long rebounds. Trey always tells me, ‘I’m going to take care of the ones in the paint.’ I’m a little guard and I have to do stuff like that. I can’t always score and I have to find different ways to affect the game outside of scoring the ball.”

The Blazers shot out to a 7-2 lead in the first six minutes of action but Vanderbilt was able to rally and tie the game twice before taking the advantage on a 12-4 run powered by four consecutive 3-pointers. UAB closed out the opening frame on a 6-2 run to cut the deficit to 27-24 entering the halftime break.

Jemison was unstoppable underneath and was fed multiple times for 17 points on 8-of-10 shooting, adding 12 rebounds for his C-USA-leading 11 double-double of the season — one than the rest of the team combined.

“I’m just confident in myself,” Jemison said. “I put the work in and I put the hours in. Coming out here and playing hard each and every day. Nothing special. I’m not going to start shooting 3s or dribbling between my legs.”

“Huge difference maker with his presence in the paint, our physicalness at the basket was the difference in the game,” Kennedy added.

Leading 53-52 at the 5:36 mark of the final stanza, UAB closed out the game with a 14-7 run — going 8-for-8 on free throws — while holding the Commodores to 3-of-12 during that stretch.

Walker and Jemison worked hand-in-hand for a majority of the second half, combining to score the first 10 points of the period for the Blazers, and showcased a little trickeration on a simple in-bounds play that saw Walker run a fake end-around and Eric Gaines assisted Jemison for an easy bucket to give the Blazers a 5-point lead with less than five minutes remaining in the game.

“Everything we do, since June, was all about how we know there’s a lot of attention paid to Jelly,” Kennedy said. “We try to have counters where we can slide into open spaces and then we have to be disciplined enough to take what the defense gives us. As Jelly said, we were catching their big in no man’s land and Trey did a great job of catching and finishing in traffic.”

Gaines had trouble keeping his hands on the ball, giving up four turnovers, but responded with 14 points, seven boards and three steals. KJ Buffen finished with eight points, five rebounds, two blocks and two steals, followed by Tavin Lovan with five points and two boards and Ty Brewer with two points and five rebounds.

The Blazers advance to face either Cincinnati or Utah Valley in the NIT semifinals, Tuesday, March 28, at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. Tip-off is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. CT on EPSN2.