No. 2 Alabama falls at home to No. 1 Auburn

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — No. 2 Alabama couldn’t find a way to get it done in the biggest game of the year to this point, falling to No. 1 Auburn at home by a final score of 94-85. The game drops the Crimson Tide to 21-4 on the season, with a 10-2 record in SEC play.

For the sixth straight game Alabama went with the same starting five, beginning the game with Mark Sears, Chris Youngblood, Jarin Stevenson, Grant Nelson and Cliff Omoruyi.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Auburn got out to an extremely fast start, jumping to a 9-0 lead in the opening minutes off three made 3-pointers, two from star forward Johni Broome. The Tigers were 4-of-7 on 3-point looks in the game’s first four minutes, while Alabama didn’t make a single shot from deep in that period. Auburn held a 14-6 lead at the game’s first timeout.

Over the next 4-minute stretch Alabama tried to make a push to cut the lead and got it as low as three points, but continued its rough start shooting from the field. Trailing by six at the game’s under-12 timeout, the Tide had still yet to make a three and was shooting less than 40 percent from the floor.

Alabama finally saw some threes fall approaching the midway point in the first half, as Aden Holloway hit a deep one off a second consecutive Omoruyi rebound. Stevenson hit one from the corner a few possessions later, cutting the Auburn lead down to one and bringing Coleman to its feet.

Despite cutting the lead down and being dangerously close to tying the game, Alabama could never take the lead in the first half. Instead, the opposite happened, with the Tigers going on a 7-0 run to end the half and take a 42-33 lead going into the break.

The Tide outrebounded Auburn in the first half and only turned it over five times, but was yet to be able to overcome 31 percent shooting from the floor and a 2-of-15 showing from deep over the first 20 minutes.

Auburn again had a strong start to the half, outscoring Alabama 13-8 over the first four minutes after the halftime break and knocking down multiple more 3-point looks. The Tide found itself with one of its biggest deficits of the season at the under-16, trailing 55-41.

Alabama tried to cut into the lead approaching the midway point of the second half, but wasn’t having success. That was until a blistering 10-0 run in less than two minutes, capped off by Sears hitting the Tide’s first three of the second half, cut the Auburn lead to 63-60 and prompted a Bruce Pearl timeout.

As it got close, the offenses started trading blows. Alabama tied the game briefly, but some big-time Auburn shotmaking gave the Tigers a 3-point lead at the under-8 timeout. The big story was Sears breaking out of his slump, knocking down another three after being ice cold for the first three-quarters of the game.

The Tigers had Alabama at arm’s length going into the final stretch of the game, leading by six at the final media timeout with 3:53 to go, and held onto it the rest of the game with some clutch free throw shooting and timely makes.

PLAYERS OF THE GAME

Cliff Omoruyi — 8 points, 12 rebounds

Mark Sears — 18 points

Grant Nelson –12 points, 11 rebounds

WHAT’S NEXT

The Crimson Tide will hit the road on Wednesday night to take on No. 21 Missouri, the second of seven straight ranked opponents to close the regular season. The game will tip off at 8 p.m. CT on SEC Network.

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