Mark Sears connected on a 15-foot floater as time expired in overtime to give No. 7 Alabama a dramatic 93-91 victory over top-ranked Auburn in Southeastern Conference play on Saturday afternoon.
Sears had a quiet game with nine points but hit the big shot to give the Crimson Tide (24-7, 13-5 SEC) a regular-season split with the Tigers. Grant Nelson led Alabama with 23 points and eight rebounds, Clifford Omoruyi had a 15-point, eight-rebound effort and Labaron Philon also added 15 points in the upset.
Johni Broome notched a career-high 34 points and added eight rebounds, five blocked shots and three steals for Auburn (27-4, 15-3).
Tahaad Pettiford had 19 points and six assists while Miles Kelly added 13 points for the Tigers.
Despite the setback, Auburn will be the No. 1 seed at next week’s SEC tournament and the Crimson Tide will be No. 3.
Alabama shot 52.2 percent from the field, including 7 of 22 from 3-point range. The Tigers connected on 47.9 percent of their attempts and were 10 of 26 from behind the arc.
Auburn’s Chad Baker-Mazara was ejected with 10:52 left in the game after delivering a hard forearm into the neck and head of Alabama’s Chris Youngblood.
In overtime, Philon stole the ball from Pettiford and drove for a layup with 2:10 remaining in overtime to give Alabama an 85-83 advantage.
Broome drained a wide-open straightaway 3-pointer to put Auburn up one with 1:43 left. Nelson answered with a putback and Sears made two free throws as the Crimson Tide led 89-86 with 41.4 seconds left.
Pettiford’s driving bank shot pulled the Tigers within one with 33.8 seconds to play. Philon then made two free throws to give Alabama a 91-88 lead with 30.8 seconds remaining before Broome swished a corner trey to tie it at 91 with 14.7 seconds remaining.
In regulation, Nelson’s inside basket with two minutes remaining gave Alabama a 79-77 edge. Broome scored in the interior with 59 seconds left to tie it.
Auburn trailed by three at halftime but Kelly scored 11 points on three treys and one layup over the first 5:05 of the second half as the Tigers took a 55-50 advantage.
The Crimson Tide answered with a 15-2 run. Aden Holloway’s 3-pointer gave Alabama a 61-57 lead with 11:30 left and Omoruyi ended it with his third dunk of the run to make it 65-57 with 10:10 remaining.
Auburn responded with a 12-4 charge and knotted the score at 69 on a 3-pointer by Denver Jones with 5:54 remaining.
Nelson scored 15 first-half points as Alabama led 45-42 at the break. Broome had 16 in the half and Pettiford added 14 for Auburn.
–Field Level Media
