Eric Gaines knew exactly what was about to happen and was ready when it finally did.

With six seconds remaining and the opponent working an inbound pass off the back of his teammate, the junior guard for the UAB basketball team corralled the ball and got as far as the wing before getting fouled.

Gaines missed the front end of the ensuing 1-and-1 but a final desperate heave fell short to ensure yet another one-possession outcome.

The Blazers rallied from a first-half deficit and staved off a last-second shot for a 58-57 victory over Middle Tennessee State, Tuesday, Nov. 21, at the Murphy Center in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

“I’m going to the way-back machine, we’re like the Bad News Bears,” UAB head coach Andy Kennedy said. “A lovable bunch of guys. When it should go right, they go left, and when it goes left, you go right. But they play so hard. That’s the one consistent thing — we’ve played hard, we’ve battled, but we can’t get out of our own way.”

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UAB (3-2) was 41.5 percent from the field and 13-of-20 at the charity stripe, but only 1-of-11 on 3-pointers. The Blazers gave up eight turnovers and won the battle in the interior with a plus-1 edge in rebounding and a plus-6 advantage on inside scoring.

Javian Davis scored a career-high 21 points on 8-of-14 shooting and added three rebounds and two blocks. The redshirt senior had 13 points in the second half, jumpstarting a 7-0 run to open the frame, and converted a pair of late free throws to put the Blazers up three points with 1:36 remaining in the game.

“He’s going to get doubled, that’s how I would do it,” Kennedy said. “He’s a little turnover prone but really a handful one-on-one.”

The Blue Raiders responded to the Davis-inspired scoring surge with their own 14-6 run, retaking the lead for the first time since late in the opening half, but gave up consecutive layups to Davis and Yaxel Lendeborg on a game-clinching 7-2 run before the final media timeout of the game.

Josh Ogundele scored on back-to-back baskets to pull the Blue Raiders within a single point, 56-55, but committed his fifth and final foul on Davis, who hit the ensuing free throws for the Blazers. MTSU had an opportunity for a game-winning shot but Gaines picked off the in-bounds pass to secure the win.

“Our inline D was good,” Kennedy said. “It’s a matchup zone with nobody on the ball. So basically, we’re playing five-on-four. We had it scouted and that’s why I call the timeout just to see the alignment. That’s obviously where they wanted to go to and we went to it again and there was nowhere for them to go.”

UAB fell behind 15-2 in the first six minutes of action but answered the call with an 11-4 run to pull within two possessions, 19-13, midway through the opening half. Despite allowing MTSU to build its lead back to double digits, the Blazers surged ahead for a 29-26 advantage as Davis scored all eight of his first-half points during a 14-1 run, including a pair of free throws with 24 seconds left in the frame.

MTSU was fouled with a second remaining and Jacob Johnson made both free throws to cut the UAB lead to 29-28 entering the halftime break.

Gaines had 10 points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals, followed by Lendeborg with nine points, three blocks and a career-high 12 rebounds. Tony Toney finished with seven points and five boards, and Efrem “Butta” Johnson had five points and three rebounds.

The Blazers return home to face Furman, Saturday, Nov. 25, at Bartow Arena in Birmingham. Tip-off is set for 5 p.m. CT on ESPN+.