The Alabama men’s basketball team won its first game of the 2010-2011 Southeastern Conference Tournament in thrilling fashion.
Down 14 with seven minutes left in regulation, the Tide went on a 19-5 run to force overtime. Fueled by senior guard Charvez Davis and junior forward JaMychal Green, the Tide won 65-59 in overtime.
“I take my hat off to Georgia because they played extremely well today,” head coach Anthony Grant said. “They are a very talented basketball team and they had a great year. I thought it was a very hard fought game and I am very proud of our guys.
“The fight that our guys showed tonight was incredible. The way we persevered and stayed together makes me extremely proud as a coach. I thought the win tonight came down to style of plays. Our guys continued to fight and believe in each other and we found ways to get it done.”
Green said, “We all were saying that we had to keep fighting. We had the same situation when we went to Florida, but we didn’t compete. We didn’t want the same outcome. We wanted to win so we fought to the end and got the job done.”
Freshman point guard Trevor Releford tied the game with 4.2 seconds remaining before Georgia point guard Dustin Ware brought the ball up the court and made a running three-point bank shot with .8 seconds on the clock. However, the shot was waved off because Georgia head coach Mark Fox called a timeout, a decision he would regret.
“We wanted to get the ball in the front court,” Fox said. “We didn’t want to go the length of the court against their pressure. I thought we had more time than .8 [seconds]. I thought we would get the timeout with a couple of seconds left. Matter of fact, when I first hollered for it, it was about two seconds on the clock. The referees went to the monitor and obviously got it right. The ball went in so sure I wish I hadn’t called the timeout. That’s a tough, tough break.”
Georgia was led by guard Travis Leslie with 24 points and 10 rebounds. Forward Trey Thompkins added 19 points. Alabama was led by Green, who had a double-double with 20 points and 13 rebounds. Davis and Tony Mitchell scored 15 and 10 points, respectively. Mitchell’s biggest contribution was his defense on Leslie in the second half, holding him to only nine points in the half.
“Coach looked at Tony Mitchell and said you have to stop him,” Releford said. “You have to cut the head off the monster, and that’s what he did. He stepped up and played great defense.”
Most experts viewed this as a play-in game for the NCAA tournament. According to ESPN’s bracketologist, Joe Lunardi, Georgia was the last team in the tournament and Alabama was the first team out before the game. Alabama has beaten Georgia twice in seven days and should jump the Bulldogs on the list of bubble teams.
Alabama will play Kentucky, who beat Ole Miss today, Saturday at noon on ABC. The Tide defeated Kentucky at home earlier this season.
