Labaron Philon Jr. took over in the second half by scoring 21 of his game-best 29 points, and fourth-seeded Alabama rallied to win 90-70 over No. 13-seed Hofstra on Friday afternoon in the first round of the NCAA Tournament’s Midwest Region in Tampa, Fla.
Sporting a bandage on his cut chin in the second half, Philon made 10 of 18 shots overall and added eight rebounds, seven assists, and three steals in the standout performance.
“I missed a couple open shots, but I don’t really bank myself on that,” Philon said. “I try to get guys involved. I ended up with seven assists, and I was just mainly focused on getting the ball out of my hands when I needed to, getting it back if I needed to.”
An 11½-point favorite playing without second-leading scorer Aden Holloway, who was suspended for first-degree felony marijuana possession, the Crimson Tide (24-9) trailed 28-18 early but finished strong in both halves.
Alabama advances to face No. 5-seed Texas Tech in Sunday’s second round.
Aiden Sherrell posted 15 points and 15 rebounds, and Taylor Bol Bowen scored 15 points. Amari Allen and Latrell Wrightsell had 11 points apiece.
“All the guys were ready to play,” Philon said. “It’s a collective thing. Once we play like that, it’s hard to contain it in the full and half court.”
Finishing the Coastal Athletic Association with a tournament title and 11 wins over 12 games, the Pride (24-11) had their seven-game winning streak snapped as they shot 40.6% from the floor and lost the rebound battle 46-34.
Preston Edmead totaled 24 points, four rebounds and four assists. Cruz Davis had 14 points and six assists.
German Plotnikov scored 12 points, while Biggie Patterson added 11 and six boards. Victory Onuetu grabbed nine rebounds before fouling out.
The Pride rallied in the first five minutes after the Southeastern Conference school went up 8-2. They cut it to 11-9 on Joshua DeCady’s layup at 15:09 off a feed from Davis.
Hofstra grabbed its first lead with 11:45 left on Patterson’s 24-footer before Davis made it 20-16. Then Joshua Aaron Reaves sank a 3-pointer from the wing to finish a 16-2 run and leave the Pride up 28-18 at 9:20.
However, behind Sherrell’s 12 points and eight rebounds, Alabama went on a 16-5 run in the final 6:20 to lead 37-35 at halftime, despite shooting 38.9% (14 of 36) from the floor and just 5 of 19 (26.3%) from deep.
The Crimson Tide continued their momentum from the end of the first half and turned up the defensive intensity on a 13-4 run in less than five minutes to start the second frame.
Hofstra cut the deficit to five points multiple times inside the final 10 minutes, but Alabama made key stops and pulled away for the victory.
“We got it down to five a couple times. Then they hit a big shot. Hats off to them,” Hofstra coach Speedy Claxton said. “I truly believe we would have got the stop, got the rebound and maybe got a score, it would have changed things. I wish we could have seen that.”
–Field Level Media
