Tennessee’s Jahmai Mashack drained a long 3-pointer at the buzzer as the No. 5 Volunteers miraculously rallied past the No. 6 Alabama Crimson Tide 79-76 in a Southeastern Conference battle on Saturday afternoon in Knoxville, Tenn.
Vying for a No. 1 NCAA Tournament seed with Alabama, the Volunteers (24-5, 11-5) trailed 76-72 with 36 seconds remaining, but the Vols’ Chaz Lanier was fouled on a made layup, and when he missed the free throw, Mashack was fouled on the rebound. Tennessee tied it on Mashack’s two free throws with 30.3 seconds left.
After forcing a five-second violation under the Alabama basket with 3.8 seconds left, Mashack, who totaled 11 points, six rebounds and three steals, got the ball, took four dribbles and sank a shot from halfway between the 3-point arc and mid-court for the winner.
Lanier and Jordan Gainey had 18 points apiece, while Zakai Zeigler had 15 as Tennessee won its fourth straight game against the Crimson Tide (23-6, 12-4) and fourth overall.
Mark Sears scored a game-high 24, and Labaron Philon and Aden Holloway had 13 and 11, respectively, as Alabama lost for the third time in five outings.
Lanier was on fire out of the gate, scoring all of Tennessee’s points as it led 7-2 three minutes in, but the visitors bounced back and grabbed a 9-7 edge a minute later on Sears’ layup.
With point guard Zeigler benched with two early fouls, the Volunteers committed seven turnovers inside the first eight minutes but still managed to hold an 18-16 lead.
However, Alabama battled back behind Sears to take a 39-33 lead, going up by six as the guard rolled in his second trey with 2:04 remaining.
Similar to his buzzer-beating, game-winning layup at Illinois on Dec.14, Gainey went coast-to-coast to close out the half with a 3-point play as the Crimson Tide carried a 42-38 advantage into the locker room.
In the second half, Grant Nelson’s free throw moved the lead to 56-48 at 13:13, but a 3-point play by Mashack less than a minute later tightened it.
At 10:15, Holloway pushed the lead to nine with a deep ball, but Zeigler rallied his club on a 13-4 run with a long shot at 6:49 to knot it 66-all and set up the dramatic finish.
–Field Level Media
