Mark Sears reaches 2,500 career points in win over Vanderbilt
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Only 80 players in the history of Division I men’s basketball had scored 2,500 career points. On Tuesday night against Vanderbilt, Mark Sears became the 81st.
Alabama’s fifth-year senior entered the home matchup with the Commodores with 2,489 points and scored 21 to help the Crimson Tide win its 16th game of the season, 103-87.
When Sears reached the milestone, it was announced to the Coleman Coliseum crowd, which rose to its feet and gave the Muscle Shoals, Alabama native a standing ovation in a timeout.
Sears was humble when asked about the accomplishment after the 16-point victory.
“First off, I wanna give all the honor and glory to God, and I just wanna thank all the great teammates I have because, without them, I wouldn’t be able to reach that milestone,” Sears said. “To get an ovation from the crowd, especially being from Alabama, it just means so much to me.
“(If you) just pour in the hard work, this will take care of itself and the game will show respect back. It means a lot.”
Sears currently sits with 2,510 career points. He is the first Alabama player to score 2,500 or more points. The Tide’s all-time leader in points is Reggie King with 2,168 from 1976-79.
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A transfer from Ohio, Sears entered Tuesday’s matchup with 1,589 points during his 3-year career at Alabama. With his 21 points against the ‘Dores, he moved past Robert Horry (1,591) into 14th place on the Crimson Tide’s all-time scoring list. Next up is Alonzo Gee (1,630).
The 6-foot-1, 190-pound guard was averaging 18.9 points and 4.8 assists per game this season while shooting 40.4 percent from the field. The win over Vanderbilt marked Sears’ 12th game of 20 or more points this year, further displaying his offensive consistency.
“He’s been as consistent a guy as I’ve probably ever coached,” Alabama head coach Nate Oats said. “Pretty much every game, no matter how it starts, he ends up with 20 somehow. He did it again tonight, he ends up with 21. When you’re scoring about 20 every night out and you get as many games as he’s played … that puts him in some pretty good company.
“Congrats to Mark. I thought he picked it up offensively for us during the second half. Put the ball in his hands late when they got close. Once they got it cut to eight, I thought Sears, from there, took over a lot. We put it in his hands, kind of set the high-ball screen for him. He got downhill, made some good reads, had some assists, some buckets.
“He’s a guy you can really trust on the offensive end to make sure we get good points.”
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