Alabama survives scare from Robert Morris, advances to second round

CLEVELAND — 2-seed Alabama survived a scare against 15-seed Robert Morris on Friday, beating the Colonials in a 90-81 battle to advance to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

Before the game, it was announced that forward Grant Nelson (knee) would be available, but he would not be in the starting lineup. Alabama went with its typical starters of Labaron Philon, Mark Sears, Chris Youngblood and Cliff Omoruyi, and started Jarin Stevenson in Nelson’s place.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Alabama opened the game with a lob to Omoruyi, setting the lone on the opening possession. The Crimson Tide played some solid defense in the opening minutes, holding a 5-2 lead at the game’s first media timeout and holding Robert Morris to 1-of-8 from the floor early.

At the media timeout Oats gave some early minutes to Derrion Reid, who’s been limited or out with an injury for nearly two months. He made a nice impact in his minutes, scoring to buckets inside for four points as the Tide pushed its lead out to eight at the under-12, leading 19-11.

Omoruyi became the star of the show over the next 4-minute stretch, throwing down a monster dunk over a defender and continuing to be effective inside against an undersized opponent. He had nine points already at the under-8 timeout, while Mo Dioubate showed off his outside stroke with two made threes. The Tide held a 10-point lead with 7:39 left in the half.

The Colonials made a push as the half drew near to its end, getting its fans and the neutral watchers in the arena into it for the underdog. Robert Morris cut it down as low as three with an 11-4 run, but Alabama took a 5-point lead into the under-4 timeout.

Come halftime, the Tide held a slim 40-36 lead as the Colonials outscored Alabama by six over the last eight minutes of the half. Omoruyi led the way with 15 points in the first half, while Dioubate added 10 of his own.

Alabama outscored RMU by one point over the first four minutes of the second half, taking a 49-44 lead at the under-16. The Colonials got the lead cut down to two at one point, but a huge three from Sears answered, his first made shot from deep for the game.

The Tide ratcheted up its defense over the next few possessions, stringing together some stops and scores to give itself a bit of a cushion with the lead again. Derrion Reid nailed a huge 3-pointer at the shot clock buzzer to give Alabama a 10-point lead, prompting a Robert Morris timeout with 12:39 to go.

Robert Morris didn’t go away, though. The Colonials came out of the timeout and went on a quick 6-0 burst to get back in the game, and kept it close approaching the midway point of the second half. It led to Oats checking in Nelson for the first time all game, as Alabama held a slim 64-62 lead at the under-8 timeout.

With 7:10 to go, Robert Morris took it first lead of the game at 65-64, igniting the crowd. Alabama found an answer quickly, going on a 10-1 run to push its lead back to eight points, 74-66, at the game’s final media timeout.

Finally back with a somewhat substantial lead, Alabama was able to ride it out to the final buzzer without being threatened again.

PLAYERS OF THE GAME

Mark Sears — 22 points, 10 assists, 5 rebounds

Cliff Omoruyi — 17 points, 4 rebounds

Mo Dioubate — 18 points, 10 rebounds

WHAT’S NEXT

Alabama has advanced to the Round of 32, and will take on the winner of 7-seed Saint Mary’s and 10-seed Vanderbilt on Sunday with a chance to advance to the Sweet 16.

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