Alabama downs Saint Mary's, advances to third straight Sweet 16

CLEVELAND — No. 2 seed Alabama was able to survive a physical battle with No. 7 seed Saint Mary’s in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, knocking off the Gaels 80-66 to advance to the Sweet 16.

It’s the fourth time in the last five years that Alabama has advanced to the Sweet 16, and the third season in a row.

After coming off the bench and not playing until the final seven minutes of the Tide’s first round game, Grant Nelson was back in the starting lineup tonight. He was joined by the usual group of Labaron Philon, Mark Sears, Chris Youngblood and Cliff Omoruyi.

HOW IT HAPPENED

As expected, the game got off to a pretty slow start. The excellent defense of Saint Mary’s limited some of the Crimson Tide’s looks early on, but Alabama came to play on the glass as it needed to. The Tide held a 6-3 advantage on the boards through the first four minutes of the game, and had a 5-4 lead on the scoreboard at the first media timeout.

The game stayed tight approaching midway through the first half, with Alabama playing with a ton of effort both on the glass and on the defensive end of the floor. The Tide finally built a bit of a lead with an 8-0 run, as Chris Youngblood got involved with a couple outside shots.

Saint Mary’s responded to the run with a couple buckets of its own, but Alabama found itself up 23-19 at the under-8 timeout in the first half.

Alabama came into the game wanted to impose its will and push the tempo, and to do that it needed to rebound defensively. It did that in the first half, getting stops and scoring transition buckets enough times to force Saint Mary’s to take a timeout with 5:43 left in the half and Alabama up 29-21.

The Crimson Tide continued to show incredible amounts of hustle and toughness down the stretch in the first half, extending its lead even more before the break. Alabama entered halftime with a 42-29 lead, holding a 26-16 advantage on the glass.

Youngblood was the Tide’s leading scorer in the first half with 13 points, shooting a perfect 3-of-3 from beyond the arc. Mo Dioubate added seven points and four rebounds of his own in the first half.

The second half came out with a much faster pace than the first half. Saint Mary’s committed to getting up and down the floor much quicker than normal, and had a bit of success doing it. The Gaels cut into Alabama’s lead by three points at the under-16 timeout, with the Tide holding a 51-41 advantage.

The scoring slowed down significantly as the midway point of the second half approached. Both teams struggled to find good looks as each team’s defense made things difficult for the opposing offense.

Still, Alabama was able to maintain its lead right around the double-digit mark, not letting the Gaels threaten any closer as it matched their scoring possession by possession. At a timeout with 9:08 to go in the second half, Alabama held a 58-47 lead right after a big-time Aden Holloway three ball.

After a long, long wait, Saint Mary’s finally hit its first 3-pointer of the game with 7:31 to go. It came right after Mark Sears finally got some things going with a few nice takes inside and a big-time lob to Omoruyi. At the under-8, the Tide still held a 64-53 lead.

The Crimson Tide kept answering punches, and seemingly answers each one with an alley-oop as the dunks piled up over a few possessions. Headed into the final media timeout Alabama still led the game by nine, 72-63.

Alabama was able hold on to that lead for the remainder of the game, locking in its trip to the second weekend.

PLAYERS OF THE GAME

Grant Nelson — 12 points, 8 rebounds

Cliff Omoruyi — 10 points, 11 rebounds

Chris Youngblood — 13 points

WHAT’S NEXT

The Crimson Tide will head to Newark, New Jersey for the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament, where it will face 6-seed BYU in the Sweet 16. The game will be on Thursday, with tipoff times yet to be announced.

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