Jahmai Mashack's buzzer-beater lifts No. 5 Tennessee in thriller over No. 6 Alabama, 79-76

Welcome to March.

Jahmai Mashack hit a deep buzzer-beater to lift No. 5 Tennessee to a 79-76 win in a thriller against No. 6 Alabama Saturday afternoon in front of an over-capacity crowd of 22,392 at Food City Center in Knoxville.

The Vols (24-5, 11-5 SEC) rallied from down four in the final minute thanks to two Mashack free throws that tied it with 30.3 seconds left. The four-point possession started with a Chaz Lanier bucket and foul.

Lanier missed the free throw that followed, but the Vols got the rebound and Mashack was fouled, getting two shots at the line in the double bonus. He made both. 

Alabama (23-6, 12-4) couldn’t score on its first look on the other end, but a tie-up was called, with the Crimson Tide having the possession arrow, with 3.8 left.

Tennessee forced a five-second call on the Alabama inbound attempt following the timeout with 3.8 seconds left. Zakai Zeigler inbounded to Mashack and he did the rest, taking the ball a few strides across the half-court stripe and letting it fly.

Jordan Gainey and Lanier led Tennessee with 18 points. Zeigler scored 13 of his 15 in the second half while battling foul trouble all afternoon. Mashack scored 11 points, six rebounds, three steals, two blocks and two assists.

Mark Sears scored a game-high 24 to lead Alabama. Aden Holloway scored 11 and LaBaron Philon added 13.

A contested 3-pointer from Sears with 2:05 left gave the Tide a 73-70 lead with 2:05 left and Philon made it a 76-72 lead when he hit one of two free throws with 30 seconds left.

Holloway stretched Alabama’s lead to nine on a 3-pointer with 10:15 left, the biggest lead of the game. It was tied just over three minutes later, when Zeigler hit from the 3-point line with 6:49 left. 

Zeigler started erasing the lead with a three with 9:58 to go. Lanier hit a jumper and Gainey scored five straight to get the game back to one possession with 7:20 left.

Both teams were scoreless for over two minutes after Gainey tied the game at 68-all with 6:18 left. He broke the tie at the foul line with 4:06 to go, giving the Vols a 70-68 lead, their first the 4:47 mark in the first half. Gainey’s free throws made it a 17-6 Tennessee run over six minutes to go from down nine to up two.

10-0 Alabama run late in first half had Vols down four at halftime

Alabama led 42-38 at halftime after using a 10-0 run over 2:21 late in the half. It was a 39-33 lead for the Crimson Tide after a Sears 3-pointer with 2:04 left before the break and a 42-35 lead when he scored with just seven seconds left in the first half. 

Tennessee’s only field goal over the final 4:47 of the half was the biggest. Gainey went coast-to-coast after the Sears layup, scored with 0.07 left on the clock and got fouled, converting the three-point play at the foul line to cut the deficit to four instead of seven at halftime. 

Lanier and Sears led both of their teams with 12 points in the first half. Sears was 2-for-7 at the 3-point line and Lanier was 2-for-6.

Alabama scored 12 points off of eight Tennessee turnovers in the opening 20 minutes, while the Vols forced just five turnovers. The Crimson Tide spent the final 12 minutes of the half in the bonus, but missed 7 of 15 free throws.

A combined 22 fouls called marred the first half on both ends of the floor. Tennessee had five players with two fouls before the end of the first half.

Zeigler had his second at the 16:23 mark, Darlinstone Dubar had two with 11:06 left, Igor Milicic got his with 6:47 to go and Lanier picked up his second with 46 seconds left before the break. 

Up Next: No. 5 Tennessee at Ole Miss, Wednesday, 9 p.m. ET

Tennessee goes back on the road Wednesday to face Ole Miss in a 9 p.m. Eastern Time start (TV: SEC Network) at The Pavilion at Ole Miss in Oxford. Ole Miss on Saturday needed a 3-pointer with 19 seconds left to beat Oklahoma 87-84 at home. 

The Vols close the regular-season schedule at home against South Carolina on Saturday. Senior Day at Food City Center is set for a 2 p.m. ET start on SEC Network. 

The SEC Tournament is set for March 12-16 at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville. The NCAA Tournament bracket will be revealed on Selection Sunday, March 16.