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Alabama rides Mark Sears, impressive bench performance to win over Texas A&M
By Paul Harvey
Published:
Alabama and Texas A&M met in a major early-season SEC battle as top-10 opponents on Saturday night. The game did not disappoint, but it was Nate Oats’ Alabama squad registering a key 94-88 road victory.
Alabama raced out to a 52-44 lead entering halftime while shooting 45% from the floor and holding Texas A&M to 27% shooting. Mark Sears was the major catalyst throughout with 15 first-half points and 3-for-6 shooting from 3-point range.
The Aggies did wake up a bit in the 2nd half but still struggled offensively. A&M finished just 38.9% from the field and was an ugly 22.2% from 3-point range. That area of the game proved to be the difference with Alabama draining 10 first-half 3-pointers and finishing the game 13-for-37 from deep.
A&M knew it was going to be up against a tough task from the start, and it was even more apparent with the news that Wade Taylor IV would be unable to suit up for the matchup. Zhuric Phelps stepped up in a big way with a team-high 24 points against the Crimson Tide but also struggled while shooting just 9-for-29 from the field.
Texas A&M’s 2nd-leading scorer in the game was Pharrel Payne with an impressive 23 points and 9 rebounds off the bench. Payne was 6-for-8 from the field and also drained 11-of-15 free-throw attempts.
While Payne was a major contributor and helped the Aggies produce 31 points of the bench, Alabama’s reserves were even better. The trio of Aden Holloway, Chris Youngblood and Derrion Reid all scored in double figures with the Tide getting 40 points off the bench in the win.
Sears was the game-high scorer with an efficient 27 points to lead the Crimson Tide. Alabama also took an advantage in fastbreak points, 22-to-7, which was a major boost considering A&M’s work on the offensive glass.
Alabama won the rebounding battle (54-to-46) and even had a slim lead in offensive rebounding, but the Aggies made their 2nd chances count. A&M had 32 2nd-chance points, doubling up Alabama in that statistic, to keep things tight the entire way.
In fact, A&M closed the gap to 83-80 on free throws from Payne at the 3:16 mark. But a quick 7-0 push by Alabama immediately after, punctuated by a clutch 3-pointer from Sears, provided the cushion for the Crimson Tide to get the win.
Alabama has aced the early portion of its SEC schedule, including back-to-back road games against South Carolina and A&M. Now, the Crimson Tide can return home to face Ole Miss before a weekend road trip to face Kentucky.
Meanwhile, Texas A&M will hope to get Taylor back in the lineup soon with a midweek road trip to face Kentucky on deck.
Paul Harvey lives in Atlanta and covers SEC football.
