Alabama Crimson Tide Takes Down the Auburn Tigers In Overtime

The Crimson Tide isn’t dead yet. Reports of their death have been greatly exaggerated. After stumbling down the stretch, with the hardest closing schedule in the country, Bama recovered to take down the top-ranked Auburn Tigers 93-91 in overtime. The game was played in the so-called toughest little gym to play in the country, Neville Arena. Alabama improved to 24-7 overall and finished 13-5 in league play. The Tigers finish the regular season with a 27-4 record and 15-3 in the SEC, which was good enough to take the league crown. The Tide clinched the number three seed in the upcoming SEC Tournament and will have a double-bye, meaning their first game will be on Friday.

Coach Nate Oats kept his starting lineup of Mark Sears, Labaron Philon, Chris Youngblood, Grant Nelson, and Clifford Omouryi. For a nice change, the Tide started out hot. In many cases this season, this Bama team would fall behind anywhere from nine to 12 points right out of the gate, then try and play catch up the rest of the day. Nelson, Youngblood, and Omouryi made sure that didn’t happen today. When Omouryi got fouled on a dunk, he made the ensuing free throw and the Tide led 10-4 with 16:40 left in the half.

Sears hit a three-pointer and Aiden Sherrell continued his improved play off the bench with and old-fashioned three point play for an 18-10 lead with 13:57 left. Despite early turnovers, the Tide was able to maintain the lead, mostly by driving and scoring in the lane. Nelson continued to be “big game Grant” dunking, scoring in the lane, and knocking down a pair of three pointers, reminiscent of his play against North Carolina in last years NCAA Tournament. The Tide took a three point lead at 45-42 into the locker room at half time.

In the first half, the Tide shot 16-31 for 52% overall and 4-9 from behind the arc, and hit 9-12 free throws. The team grabbed 20 rebounds, dished out eight assists, had three blocks, one steal, and eight turnovers. Nelson led the way with 15 points, Youngblood tossed in nine, and Sherrell made his presence felt with six points, seven rebounds, one assist, and a block.

Auburn shot 16-34 for 47%, 4-8 from deep, and made 6-7 free throws. The Tigers had 16 rebounds, nine assists, four blocks, two steals, and four turnovers. Johni Broome had 16 points and five rebounds at the break. Freshman Tahaad Pettiford came off the bench to make 4-5 from three point range and scored 14 points.

Alabama used the same starters for the second half. Auburn quickly took a 47-44 lead with 18:25 left in the game. An Omoruyi dunk with 16 minutes gave the Tide a 48-47 lead. The Tigers went on a run and led by a score of 55-50 with 14:47 left. Back-to-back dunks by Omouryi brought Bama within one at 55-54 with 13:14 remaining.

Things continued to go back and forth. A Sears hoop made it 56-55 and after AU answered, Mo Dioubate worked his way inside for a basket for a 58-57 lead for the visitors. Aden Holloway nailed a three-pointer in his old arena for the 61-57 lead. Diobuate added a free throw and the Tide was looking good with a five point lead.

Alabama was offered a chance to push the lead out when Chad Baker-Mazara resorted to his usual antics, elbowing Youngblood in the head for the second time in the game. This time he was caught, and after a review was ejected from the game for a flagrant two foul. Youngblood should probably been replaced, but took the two ensuing free throw attempts. Not only did he miss them both, he air balled the first try. The Crimson Tide retained possession and Dioubate was fouled on a shot attempt, and made only one of two chances. Bama left that ordeal with only adding one point to their score, and led 63-57 with 10:32 left in the game.

Omouryi dunked again, but the Tigers would not go away, aided by some sloppy turnovers from the Tide. Also this Auburn team plays tough, physical defense. The Tigers tied the game at 69-69 on a three pointer with 5:45 left. After being unable to hold on to the ball, the Tide fell behind 74-71. The freshman Philon stepped up and drained a three-pointer with 3:41 left to tie things up again at 74-74. Down two with 2:53 on the clock, Nelson hit a three pointer for a 77-76 Bama lead. Youngblood was called for weak foul on an Auburn three point attempt with 2:17 left. Pettiford could only make 1-3 attempts and the score was tied 77-77.

Nelson drove the lane and slammed down a basket for a 79-77 lead with 1:36 left. Auburn tied it up with 42 seconds left and neither team scored the rest of the way, setting up the five minute overtime period.

Omouryi tied the game at 81-81 and 83-83 on back to back possession with dunks. Philon made a steal and was able to cash in for a 85-83 lead. Broome threw in a three-pointer and the Tigers had the lead back at 86-85 with 1:32 left. Nelson drove and converted a basket, but AU kept answering. Bama led 89-88 with 34 seconds left and Philon was fouled. The freshman calmly made both free throws for the 91-88 lead with 28 seconds left. Auburn missed a shot and when the ball rolled around the Tigers were able to pick it up. Broome was open in the corner and took a pass and knocked down the big three-pointer to tie the game with 14.7 seconds left.

Philon brought the ball up the court, made a pass to Sears at the top of the key. Sears was able to maneuver himself into the lane and hit a floater as time ran out, giving the Tide the big 93-91 victory. Sears had a quite day, but came up big when needed at the end.

In the second half, Bama shot 14-25 for 56%, 3-9 from deep for 33%, and only 3-8 at the free throw line. In the overtime, the Tide shot 5-11 for 45%, 0-4 from three, and 4-4 at the charity stripe. Overall Alabama shot 35-67 for 52%, 7-22 for 32% from three, and 16-24 for 67% at the free throw line. The team had 41 rebounds, 18 assists, three blocks, four steals, and turned it over 15 times. Nelson, as he tends to do, came up big in the biggest of games, scoring 23 points with eight rebounds, and one block. Philon scored 15 clutch points, offered three assists, grabbed four rebounds, had a steal, and only turned it over once. Omuruyi was 7-7 from the field, all dunks, and scored 15 points with eight rebounds and two assists. Sherrell played 16 important minutes and scored eight with seven rebounds with a block and an assist. Youngblood never scored in the second half, never seeming to recover from being repeatedly hit in the head, and finished with nine points. Sears had a quite night scoring, but had the big basket at the end and notched nine points, with seven assists, three rebounds, and only one turnover in 40 minutes of action.

Auburn shot 14-30 for 47% in the second half with 4-14 from deep and 5-10 at the free throw line. In overtime the Tigers shot 5-9 for 56%, 2-4 from three, and did not attempt a free throw. Overall AU shot 35-73 for 48%, 10-26 for 39% from three and 11-17 for 65% at the charity stripe. Broome scored 34 points, grabbed eight rebounds, dished out three assists, made three steals, and blocked five shots, showing why he is the favorite for SEC and National Player of the Year recognition. Pettiford scored 19 and had six assists, while Miles Kelly was also in double figures with 13 points.

After the game an elated Oats said “after the adversity we faced, it would have been easy to fold”, and that Auburn did a good job of making sure that Sears didn’t get anything easy. Oats said that “Mark bailed me out, the play call wasn’t that great” and added “hopefully we get March Grant Nelson back for another run.”

This Alabama team has been a bit of a roller coaster. Just when you think you are about to give up on them, they come back to life. Finishing 3-4 over the gauntlet of seven games to end the year wasn’t ideal, but that could have easily been 4-3 because of giving the Tennessee game away. The Crimson Tide will travel to Nashville to play in the SEC Tournament on Friday after earning a double bye. Georgia and Oklahoma will play on Wednesday and the winner will get Kentucky on Thursday. Bama will play the winner of that game in the late time slot on Friday night – around 9 p.m. CT.

Roll Tide!