Eric Gaines and Daniel Ortiz are banding together and the UAB basketball team is starting to become as thick as thieves.

The Blazers forced 14 steals on 20 turnovers as they ran away with a 92-56 victory over Montevallo, Sunday, Dec. 17, at Bartow Arena in Birmingham.

UAB (6-5) scored 38 points off turnovers and held its opponent below 80 points for the first time since a win at Middle Tennessee State.

“It’s good to win in Bartow, we haven’t done that very much and that’s unacceptable,” UAB head coach Andy Kennedy said. “We’re not doing a good job of protecting our home floor. It’s been a minute since we’ve been here so it was good to see us play well.”

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The Blazers shot 49.3 percent overall, only 5-of-23 from 3-point range, and were 15-of-17 at the charity stripe. UAB held the Falcons to 39.3 percent from the field and dominated the paint with a plus-18 advantage on interior scoring and a plus-11 edge in rebounding.

UAB stretched its lead to 58-32 early in the second half, opening the frame on a 14-4 run, and built its advantage to as many as 40 points three times in the final eight minutes of the game.

“Defensively, we changed the game at the end of the first half by becoming more aggressive,” Kennedy said. “Defense led to offense, we were able to get into a rhythm, and it was also good to have the opportunity to play everybody available on the roster.”

Alejandro Vasquez was held out for precautionary reasons.

“He’s been gimpy with an ankle situation,” Kennedy said. “Out of an abundance of caution, we gave him time to rest prior to a big game against a really good Drake team.”

Javian Davis scored a career-high 22 points on 9-of-13 shooting, adding four boards, and twice scored six straight points to ignite a UAB scoring run. He had a personal 6-0 run that jumpstarted a 19-1 run to close out the first half and scored the first six points of the second half for the Blazers.

“JD was dominant in spurts in the game and finishing inside,” Kennedy said.

Daniel Ortiz finished with 16 points, four rebounds, two assists and four steals, and eclipsed 1,000 points for his career. The junior scored 921 points during a two-year stint at UNA and has 81 points in 11 games this season.

“Took too long, man, took too long,” Ortiz said. “It’s a great feat. Glory to God. I’m grateful to play the game but got to get back to the lab.”

Eric Gaines stuffed the stat sheet with eight points, three rebounds, 10 assists, seven steals and only two turnovers. Yaxel Lendeborg finished with 10 points and four rebounds, and Tony Toney, Efrem “Butta” Johnson and Christian Coleman all had eight points with the latter two combining for 13 rebounds.

“That’s what he (Gaines) does,” Kennedy said. “He’s really good when he’s in space defensively because he’s so quick. He utilized that by jumping through some passes and igniting our run. He was really engaged and did a great job of distributing the ball.”

The Blazers remain home and will face Drake (10-1), Friday, Dec. 22, at Bartow Arena in Birmingham. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m. CT on ESPN+.