It was a tale of two halves. But also an overtime.

The Blazers overcame a double-digit halftime deficit but a late bounce of the ball stole momentum in a 73-71 season-opening loss to Bradley, Monday, Nov. 6, at Bartow Arena in Birmingham.

“That was a gut punch, boy,” UAB head coach Andy Kennedy said. “Totally outplayed in the first 20 minutes and, again, I’m not gonna sit up here like I’m Nostradamus but I’m going to tell you I’ve been looking at it every single day. You go from just being completely annihilated early, everybody’s a step slow and can’t finish through contact, but got it back to a serviceable game. That was a real gut punch. One that we now got to exhale, get up off the floor and move forward.”

UAB (0-1) was offensively challenged in the first half, shooting 23 percent from the field, but together an epic 27-3 run in the second half to finish 33.8 percent overall. Despite the flourish, the Blazers were only 3-of-19 on 3-pointers and went 18-for-29 at the free-throw line. Defensively, UAB allowed Bradley to shoot 43.1 percent overall and 10-of-30 from 3-point range but won the battle in the paint with a plus-12 advantage on inside scoring and a plus-8 edge in rebounding.

“I knew offensively we were going to have some issues, I didn’t know they were going to be this glaring,” Kennedy said. “You can’t miss 11 foul shots and go 3-for-19 from 3 in your home building and it be a good thing.”

Javian Davis was the catalyst on both sides of the court for UAB and recorded a double-double with 20 points and 15 rebounds, along with collecting four steals. Trailing by three points in the final minute of overtime, Davis passed up an open teammate on the wing and forced his way inside for a clutch layup. He drew the foul and converted the old-fashioned 3-point play to knot the score up at 71-all with 26 seconds remaining. Kennedy did not hesitate to express his trust in Davis’ decision-making.

“What a tremendous performance by him,” Kennedy said. “He was really outstanding finishing plays inside because that’s where this team is going to have to go for offense. We’ve been doing it and I’m so proud of the way that he finished and made a huge free throw. He was anchoring this defense and he was tremendous. Just got to get him some help,”

Following Davis’ game-tying play, Bradley’s Darius Hannah split the defense on the opposite end, taking a pass from Connor Hickman, and scored the game-winning basket with two seconds on the clock. Eric Gaines’ last-second shot attempt sailed left to bring finality to a highly competitive grudge match between two 25-win teams from a season ago.

The Blazers fell behind as many as 20 points in the first half but Daniel Ortiz and Gaines combined for eight points to pull within 40-24 entering the halftime break.

A new team, hell-bent on eliminating any forward progress to the basket, emerged for the second half and swiftly went to work erasing the 16-point deficit. UAB opened on an 8-0 run, cutting the lead in half, and took its first lead of the game on a pair of free throws from Tony Toney.

During their momentum-swinging run, the Blazers held Bradley without a field goal for 10:43 and built a 59-48 advantage with 6:42 left in regulation. After fouling Duke Deen on a 3-point attempt, the Braves went on a 16-3 run to retake the lead, 64-62, with only 33 seconds left in the second half. Davis, off an assist from Christian Coleman, was able to tie it up at 64-all on a slam and Duke missed a potential game-winning basket as time expired.

“We always try to schedule the best teams that we can, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t,” Kennedy said. “We knew Bradley — coming off 25 wins last year and the job that Brian Wardle has done there — was going to be very fundamentally sound. We knew they were going to be big and had dynamic playmakers in the backcourt.

Gaines put UAB ahead with a pair of free throws to open the overtime session but a 7-2 run from Bradley forced Davis’ hand, only for Hannah to score the winning bucket on a slippery pass from Hickman.

Joining Davis in double figures were Gaines with 16 points, four rebounds, two assists and three steals, followed by Coleman with 11 points and eight boards. Toney finished with nine points, four rebounds and two steals, and Ortiz had six points.

The Blazers will face Clemson to open the Asheville Championship, Friday, Nov. 10, at Harrah’s Cherokee Center in Asheville, North Carolina.