In its second exhibition game of 2010, the Alabama Crimson Tide defeated the Alabama-Huntsville Chargers 73-68 in a double overtime thriller Monday night.
“I knew that this would be a very good game for us,” head coach Anthony Grant said. “What we tried to do is give our guys a sense of the type of offense they would see and how we needed to defend that in a short period of time.”
For the second game in a row, freshman Trevor Releford was the Tide’s leading scorer with 22, along with three assists, steals and rebounds. Behind him in scoring was junior JaMychal Green with 16 points, eight rebounds and one assist.
“Trevor did a great job tonight,” Green said. “He stepped up in the second half, knocked down big shots. He stepped up tonight and did a great job. He stepped up to the plate, playing like he wasn’t a freshman.”
Going into halftime, the Tide was down 28-26. After Alabama got the first basket of the game, UAH took over the first half, making 40 percent of its three-pointers and 50 percent of field goals. Alabama, on the other hand, made 12 percent of its threes and 37 percent of its field goals.
“I learned that we have to play both halves,” Green said. “We can’t get frustrated. We have to fight through it and be patient.”
In the first half, one of the Tide’s biggest problems was the inability to get offensive rebounds. UAH recovered 15 of Alabama’s missed shots, compared to Alabama recovering only six offensive rebounds. On second chance shots, Alabama had six of its 26 points.
With four minutes left in the first half, the Tide was down by eight points, at 26-18, but then through full-court pressing and forcing turnovers, Alabama closed UAH’s lead to only two points.
Then about four minutes into the second half, the Tide took the lead back again with three points in a row from Tony Mitchell, first on a layup and then on a free throw after a technical foul. It was Alabama’s first lead since the first minute of the first half.
In the second half, the lead changed several times, with the Tide at one point getting a five-point lead. But UAH hung in the game, and though Alabama had last second chances to win the game, at the end of regulation, the game was tied at 59.
After allowing 40 percent of three’s in the first half, Alabama was able to defend the Chargers at the three-point line, as the team only shot 25 percent from the three-point line after a second half adjustment.
“I thought we did a better job in the second half from a sense of urgency standpoint, but it was a good lesson,” Grant said.
Each team only scored five points in the first overtime, and so the game went into a second overtime. Though UAH got the first points, Releford’s free throws gave the Tide a 67-66 lead with two minutes to go. And to seal the game, Green got in a dunk with an assist from Senario Hillman to end the game 73-68.
“I wasn’t expecting to play double overtime,” Green said. “I kind of under guessed the team. They came out and played aggressively. It was a great game for us because the season will be tough, and we need a good game like that before the season starts so we can learn from our mistakes.”
Alabama will begin its regular-season schedule on Friday at Coleman Coliseum against Florida A&M, with tipoff at 7:30 p.m.
