Mark Sears poured in 27 points and sunk four key free throws in the final 21 seconds as No. 5 Alabama held off short-handed No. 10 Texas A&M 94-88 on Saturday in a key Southeastern Conference battle in College Station, Texas.
The Crimson Tide (14-2, 3-0 SEC) led by eight points at halftime and by 15 with eight minutes to play but had to outlast a torrid Texas A&M rally.
The Aggies culled their deficit to 87-84 after a pair of free throws by Hayden Hefner with 1:22 left. Hefner then missed a 3-pointer from the top of the key, and Alabama’s Clifford Omoruyi grabbed the rebound, was fouled and added a free throw. He missed the second free throw, but Chris Youngblood snagged the offensive rebound, which led to another two free throws.
Texas A&M’s Pharrel Payne made a layup with 25 seconds left to make it a four-point game before Sears added to the Crimson Tide’s lead, downing two free throws with 21 seconds left.
Payne’s bucket with 12 seconds left was countered by two more from the charity stripe for Sears with 9 seconds remaining, the latter giving Alabama its final margin and its eighth straight win.
Texas A&M (13-3, 2-1 SEC), which was without injured leading scorer Wade Taylor III, dropped its first game this season against a team ranked in the Top 25 after winning its first four contests against ranked teams.
Aden Holloway added 15 points for the Crimson Tide while Youngblood had 14, Derrion Reid had 11 and Omoruyi pulled in 10 rebounds.
Zhuric Phelps led A&M with 24 points, Payne tallied 23, Hefner had 16 and Henry Coleman III added 12 points and 11 rebounds as the Aggies had a nine-game winning streak snapped.
Alabama never trailed and owned a 10-point edge when Sears poured in a 3-pointer with 6:55 to play in the first half. The Aggies pared their deficit to 39-36 on a Phelps layup with 3:57 left, but the Crimson Tide never blinked, extending their lead to 52-44 at the break.
Sears’ 15 points before halftime led all scorers while Phelps had 13 and Payne added 10 for the Aggies.
The Crimson Tide built their advantage to 15 points with 7:57 to play. That’s when Texas A&M turned it on, scoring 19 of the ensuing 26 points to draw to within three with 3:16 left.
–Field Level Media
