Eric Gaines is often the most mild-mannered player on any basketball court.

Cool. Calm. Collected.

That was until a little more than five minutes left in the regular season and double-bye in the league tournament on the line for the UAB basketball team.

Grabbing a rebound under the basket, following a missed 3-point attempt from SMU’s Zhuric Phelps, Gaines, displaying a passionate determination rarely seen, rerouted his momentum and drove the entire length of the court for a layup plus the harm.

“It was coming down to the wire,” Gaines said. “Got the rebound and had to go to the hole and draw the foul. Got the and-1 and made the free throw to put us back in the game.”

The Blazers didn’t reclaim the lead for another four minutes — going ahead on a pair of free throws from Gaines — but the junior point guard sparked a second-half comeback to earn a 74-70 win over SMU, Sunday, March 10, at Bartow Arena in Birmingham.

“Really, really proud of our guy’s effort,” UAB head coach Andy Kennedy said. “It would have been so easy (to give up). Down 14 with about eight to play, nothing’s going your way, can’t handle pressure, turning it over, getting absolutely dominated in the paint physically. But our guys kept hanging in there and finally, at the end, we were able to string together some stops.”

UAB (19-11, 11-6 AAC) entered the game at 116 in the NET rankings and clinches the fourth seed and double-bye in the upcoming AAC tournament with the Quad-2 win over the Mustangs.

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The Blazers were held to 38.9 percent from the field and 35.7 percent on 3-pointers but had a 27-of-33 showing at the charity stripe. SMU was 40.9 percent overall but only 29.6 percent from 3-point range and 8-of-15 at the foul line. UAB overcame a slow start on the boards to finish plus-1 on the glass and the Mustangs were plus-6 on inside scoring.

“We wanted to continue to pressure the basket,” Kennedy said. “We did a great job of attacking in the open floor. Once we got it to the middle of the floor, advanced it up the floor, we did a good job of attacking and being able to manufacture some points in the open floor.”

Gaines finished with a game-high 22 points on 6-of-10 shooting, including a 3-of-6 mark from 3-point range, and added four rebounds, three assists with no turnovers and six steals. He knocked down his first triple near the end of the first half to give UAB a 33-29 lead at the break and hit two 3-pointers to sandwich a coast-to-coast drive in sparking the second-half comeback.

“I look at his line, he was the MVP and I was not real pleased with him,” Kennedy said. “If he ever dies from a stress-related disease, there needs to be an investigation immediately. This guy’s heartbeat doesn’t get over four. Very chill. But tonight when we were struggling, he stepped up huge for us down the stretch.”

Yaxel Lendeborg produced his 16 double-double of the season, scoring 12 points and grabbing 12 rebounds along with three blocks, and is now one shy of tying Elijah Millsap’s record of 17 double-doubles set during the 2009-2010 season. He finishes the regular season averaging 13.7 points and 10.4 rebounds and is eight rebounds away from breaking Trey Jemison’s single-season record (329) set last year.

Christian Coleman had 16 points and 10 rebounds to earn the first double-double of his career.

“His minutes were really magnified with his energy,” Kennedy said. “It’s his first double-double as a Division I player. A great night to do it. He’s come a long way and he’s got a long way that he can still go.”

Coleman has now scored in double digits in four of his last five games and finishes with 10 double-digit scoring efforts in the regular season.

“It’s been an adjustment for me,” Coleman said. “I’ve been trying to pick it apart and I’m finding my way. I go out there and do what I do best. I get my hands on balls and play hard.”

Similar to its epic second-half collapse last week at Memphis, UAB allowed a 25-7 run to open the period and the Mustangs built their largest lead, 54-40, almost midway through the half. Coleman, Lendeborg and Efrem “Butta” Johnson combined on a 9-3 run to trim the deficit below double digits but a call-and-answer between Johnson and Phelps resulted in SMU holding a 10-point lead with 6:46 remaining in the game.

“We had to stay together,” Gaines said. “We had a misunderstanding in the huddle, a few turnovers back-to-back and AK came at us. We stayed together, kept our composure, fought, and made the tougher plays.”

Gaines ignited the UAB rally following a miss from Phelps and the Blazers closed out the second half on an 11-1 run while holding SMU without a field goal in the final four minutes.

“Our 1-3-1 (defense) was effective,” Kennedy said. “At the end, we went to it huge.”

Alejandro Vasquez posted 14 points, three rebounds and two assists, and Johnson had eight points and two boards. The latter combined with Gaines for a 7-of-8 showing on free throws in the final minute of the game.

The Blazers enter the AAC tournament as the fourth seed and will face either 5-seed Memphis or the winner of Rice and Wichita State, Friday, March 15, at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m. CT on ESPN2.