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01-18-2018, 11:09 AM
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. â The Alabama men's basketball team held off No. 17/20 Auburn, 76-71, Wednesday night in front of sold out crowd in Coleman Coliseum. Freshman John Petty went 8-of-13 from beyond the arc and finished with 27 points to help snap the Tigers' 14-game winning streak, which was the longest in the nation coming into the contest.
The win was even more impressive considering the Crimson Tide played without leading scorer Collin Sexton, who was ruled out with an abdominal injury prior to tip off. In addition, junior Donta Hall played limited minutes despite just coming off wrist surgery five days ago.
"Our guys played hard and fought through a lot of adversity," head coach Avery Johnson said. "If I had to give a game ball out tonight, I know you guys think I'm probably going to give it to (John) Petty. He was great and we needed his three-point shooting. When we ran plays for him, he made threes, and we didn't run plays for him, somebody either found him or they lost him in transition. But what about a guy like Donta Hall? He had surgery five days ago, and I wasn't going to play him. He sat down and talked to me and said, 'Coach, I really need to play. The doctors cleared me and I'm not in any danger, and I've talked to Clarke (Holter).' I was thinking about playing him on Saturday, that was the plan. He didn't even practice and you guys know how I feel about not allowing a player to play if he doesn't practice. I know his numbers don't look good, but the team fed off of Donta wanting to play tonight. So what a classy move by him. He's a kid with strong character and he's tough. That's a sign of toughness on display tonight.
"We played against a terrific basketball team. Like I told you guys in my press conference yesterday, they were picked to be 4-14 in conference play, and we didn't buy that. We played them like they were the best team in our conference and the hottest team in the country. Our team was focused and they fought through setbacks. I'm proud of their entire effort. It wasn't perfect, but I'm proud of their attention to detail and their hustle, even after a mistake."
Freshman Herbert Jones and sophomore Dazon Ingram both reached double figures to help push the Tide past the Tigers. Ingram went 10-of-13 from the charity stripe to score 16 points, while adding three rebounds, two assists and two steals. Jones finished with 11 points and seven rebounds to go along with four assists, four steals and a block.
After trailing, 33-30, at the intermission, the Crimson Tide (12-6, 4-2 SEC) shot 57.7 percent from the floor (15-of-26) over the final 20 minutes, while holding Auburn to just 2-of-11 shooting from three and 12-of-27 from the floor in the second half. Alabama owned a 37-35 advantage on the boards to improve to 8-0 when outrebounding the opposition.
After a slow start from both squads, Alabama's offense came to life with a 7-0 run over a 2:12 span, hitting three straight field goals to take the 14-5 lead at 13:49. Then Auburn when on a run of its own, scoring 11 unanswered points to take its first lead of the game, 16-15, with 9:33 left in the half.
The teams would have three ties and five lead changes throughout the first half, however, Auburn's Chuma Okeke drilled a three at the buzzer to take a 33-30 lead at the break.
After both teams stormed out of the gates trading baskets to start the half, Alabama went on a 7-2 offensive spurt to push its lead to 43-39 at the 15:21 mark. The Tide would extend its lead following a 13-4 outburst over a span of 5:53 to take a 56-43 lead with 9:16 left to play
As the clock winded down, the Auburn Tigers (16-2, 4-1) began to inch back into the game, cutting the lead to 68-65 with 1:01 left to play. Jones responded in transition with a layup to give the Tide the 70-65 lead, but Auburn answered back four more free throws to shrink the deficit to 72-68 with 17 seconds left. Freshman Alex Reese went 1-of-2 from the line to nudge the lead to 73-68 when the Tigers answered back with a three with five seconds on the clock, but Petty's free throw and two more by Ingram iced the game.
It marked the Tide's second victory over an AP Top-25 team this season. Alabama defeated then-No. 5 Texas A&M, 76-71, back on Dec. 30.
Alabama will play its second straight home game on Saturday, Jan. 20, when it takes on Mississippi State at Coleman Coliseum. The game will tip off at 7:30 p.m. CT and will be televised on SEC Network.
http://www.rolltide.com/news/2018/1/17/a...76-71.aspx
The win was even more impressive considering the Crimson Tide played without leading scorer Collin Sexton, who was ruled out with an abdominal injury prior to tip off. In addition, junior Donta Hall played limited minutes despite just coming off wrist surgery five days ago.
"Our guys played hard and fought through a lot of adversity," head coach Avery Johnson said. "If I had to give a game ball out tonight, I know you guys think I'm probably going to give it to (John) Petty. He was great and we needed his three-point shooting. When we ran plays for him, he made threes, and we didn't run plays for him, somebody either found him or they lost him in transition. But what about a guy like Donta Hall? He had surgery five days ago, and I wasn't going to play him. He sat down and talked to me and said, 'Coach, I really need to play. The doctors cleared me and I'm not in any danger, and I've talked to Clarke (Holter).' I was thinking about playing him on Saturday, that was the plan. He didn't even practice and you guys know how I feel about not allowing a player to play if he doesn't practice. I know his numbers don't look good, but the team fed off of Donta wanting to play tonight. So what a classy move by him. He's a kid with strong character and he's tough. That's a sign of toughness on display tonight.
"We played against a terrific basketball team. Like I told you guys in my press conference yesterday, they were picked to be 4-14 in conference play, and we didn't buy that. We played them like they were the best team in our conference and the hottest team in the country. Our team was focused and they fought through setbacks. I'm proud of their entire effort. It wasn't perfect, but I'm proud of their attention to detail and their hustle, even after a mistake."
Freshman Herbert Jones and sophomore Dazon Ingram both reached double figures to help push the Tide past the Tigers. Ingram went 10-of-13 from the charity stripe to score 16 points, while adding three rebounds, two assists and two steals. Jones finished with 11 points and seven rebounds to go along with four assists, four steals and a block.
After trailing, 33-30, at the intermission, the Crimson Tide (12-6, 4-2 SEC) shot 57.7 percent from the floor (15-of-26) over the final 20 minutes, while holding Auburn to just 2-of-11 shooting from three and 12-of-27 from the floor in the second half. Alabama owned a 37-35 advantage on the boards to improve to 8-0 when outrebounding the opposition.
After a slow start from both squads, Alabama's offense came to life with a 7-0 run over a 2:12 span, hitting three straight field goals to take the 14-5 lead at 13:49. Then Auburn when on a run of its own, scoring 11 unanswered points to take its first lead of the game, 16-15, with 9:33 left in the half.
The teams would have three ties and five lead changes throughout the first half, however, Auburn's Chuma Okeke drilled a three at the buzzer to take a 33-30 lead at the break.
After both teams stormed out of the gates trading baskets to start the half, Alabama went on a 7-2 offensive spurt to push its lead to 43-39 at the 15:21 mark. The Tide would extend its lead following a 13-4 outburst over a span of 5:53 to take a 56-43 lead with 9:16 left to play
As the clock winded down, the Auburn Tigers (16-2, 4-1) began to inch back into the game, cutting the lead to 68-65 with 1:01 left to play. Jones responded in transition with a layup to give the Tide the 70-65 lead, but Auburn answered back four more free throws to shrink the deficit to 72-68 with 17 seconds left. Freshman Alex Reese went 1-of-2 from the line to nudge the lead to 73-68 when the Tigers answered back with a three with five seconds on the clock, but Petty's free throw and two more by Ingram iced the game.
It marked the Tide's second victory over an AP Top-25 team this season. Alabama defeated then-No. 5 Texas A&M, 76-71, back on Dec. 30.
Alabama will play its second straight home game on Saturday, Jan. 20, when it takes on Mississippi State at Coleman Coliseum. The game will tip off at 7:30 p.m. CT and will be televised on SEC Network.
http://www.rolltide.com/news/2018/1/17/a...76-71.aspx
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