JILL TORRANCE / arizona daily star

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Highlights will show the final foul over and over, maybe even within Jamelle Horne’s head for a while, but the Arizona Wildcats knew there were plenty of other things to blame Tuesday.

In a 72-71 loss to UAB in the second round of the NIT Season Tip-Off, UAB’s Paul Delaney was racing near midcourt in a frantic attempt to get off a final shot with one second left and the score tied -- until Horne slapped him with an intentional foul.

Delaney then sank 1 of 2 free throws, enough to send the Blazers (3-0) on into the NIT semifinals.

The lost kept Arizona (1-1) out of the NIT semifinal in New York next Wednesday, and the Wildcats will instead be scheduled into one of three consolation brackets for games to be played on Monday and Tuesday. While UA will likely be assigned games at either Davidson, Georgia or St. John’s, UAB will face Oklahoma in the NIT semifinals on Nov. 26.

“When he fouled Paul,” UAB’s Lawrence Kinnard said of Horne. “It was like a blessing.”

Or just one of a couple of simple mental mistakes toward the end of Tuesday’s game. Not only did Kyle Fogg foul Aaron Johnson just after stealing the ball and making a tying basket with 26 seconds left, Horne was whistled for his foul when time had nearly expired.

Not only did Horne go after the foul despite the score being tied, he also appeared to think Delaney would have somehow had enough time to reach the basket.

``I don’t think he had a clock in his head,” UA interim head coach Russ Pennell said. “I think he thought that Delaney could get all the way to the rim. And he was caught between a rock and a hard place. And instead of just letting him go he made a poor decision and he’s broken up about it.”

Despite efforts from teammates to keep media away from Horne, he retreated to his locker stall afterward and said he thought Delaney could have made it.

“I saw the guy with the ball going 94 feet and the last thing I wanted to do was give him an uncontested shot,” Horne said. “And I saw him in front of me so I tried to foul him and the ref called what. … I don’t know what he called it.”

But well before Horne’s foul, the Wildcats ran into trouble: All night, they were bombarded by the Blazers’ three-pointers. UAB made 13 of 30 three pointers and shot 50 percent overall, while UA made just 4 of 16 long-range shots.

Jordan Hill had a career-high 22 rebounds for UA along with 13 points while Chase Budinger led all scorers with 27 points. Hill’s 22 rebounds broke the NIT Season Tip-Off record of 21 set by Larry Richard of TCU against LSU in 1986.

For UAB, Robert Vaden had 20 and Lawrence Kinnard added another 16.

With a minute left, the Blazers appeared to fall apart. Lawrence Kinnard missed the front end of a one and one, and after Garland Judkins missed the second of two free throws with 29 seconds left, UAB mishandled the ball and Fogg picked it up and threw it in the basket to tie the game at 71-71.

After Fogg followed layup with a foul, UAB’s Aaron Johnson went to the line -- but missed the front end of another one and one, giving UA the ball and 24 seconds to win the game. Arizona called a timeout with 17 seconds left and Nic Wise missed a shot in the final seconds before UAB’s Delaney raced upcourt.

The Wildcats went on a 12-6 run to pull within 70-65 with 3:48 after Budinger made two straight layups. But the Wildcats were still being hurt by the Blazers’ long-range shooting, giving up threes in the corner by Lawrence Kinnard and Robert Vaden midway through the second half.

It was only after Horne scored off an inbounds pass under the basket that UA cut the lead to 71-68 with 1:10 remaining.

Arizona’s second half began on a more ominous note than the first half did. The Blazers hit three of their first four three-point attempts, Delaney also stole an inbounds pass from Brendon Lavender and raced in for a layup.

Delaney’s layup gave UAB a 52-39 lead with 15:57 and noticeably quieted the crowd of about 10,000 at McKale Center, which had been chanting furiously in the first few minutes of the second half.

However, UA crept back within 52-44 when Budinger hit a three-pointer with 13:53 left and reignited the crowd.

In the first half, UAB shot its way to a 41-31 halftime lead.

The Blazers made 7 of 14 three-pointers, including four in the final six minutes, to take a double-digit lead for the first time just before halftime. Five different players hit at least one three-pointer each for UAB, while UA managed to shoot only 2 of 10 from long range -- and both of the made threes were from Budinger.

Hill collected 11 rebounds in the first half for Arizona but was just 2 of 6 from the field for five points. Budinger had 14 points in the half to lead all scorers, while Vaden had 12 and Roderick had 10 for UAB.

Arizona shot just 39 percent from the field overall while allowing the Blazers to shoot 50 percent from both three-point and two-point range.

The Blazers went on an 8-0 run to take a 20-16 lead with nine minutes left in the first half. Vaden later hit a three-pointer to give them a 23-18 lead.

Two more three-pointers, including a completely unguarded one by Ed Berrios, gave UAB a 35-29 lead with 3:22 left. At that point, the Blazers already had four different players making at least one three pointers while UA was a combined 2 for 8 from beyond the arc.

UAB started quickly, getting three-pointers from Vaden and Lawrence Kinnard in the first three minutes to take an 8-4 lead. But Budinger responded with two three-pointers within 40 seconds to pull UA to a 12-12 tie.

Although Wise was called for a charge on a layup attempt, preventing the Wildcats from taking their first lead, Wise later scored and Budinger hit a jumper on the baseline to give UA a 16-12 lead.

The loss dropped Arizona into one of three consolation pods that will be assigned today, likely to be at either Davidson, Georgia or St. John’s. The top three remaining seeds will host three other teams for games to be played on Monday and Tuesday, but Arizona will not be able to host because the UA women are scheduled to play in McKale Center on Tuesday.

Geography will factor into the four-team consolation brackets, but no teams that have already met in the first two rounds can play again. Barring other scheduling conflicts, St. John’s, Georgia and Davidson will host the other consolation pods.