Alabama pulls away from Hofstra, advances to Round of 32
By David Wasson
Published:
It wasn’t pretty at times, but the Alabama Crimson Tide are moving on to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Playing without Aden Holloway and against a pesky Hofstra team, the Crimson Tide pulled away down the stretch late to earn a 90-70 first-round victory in the Midwest Region in Tampa.
Alabama guard Labaron Philon Jr. shined against Hofstra, delivering a game-high 29 points to go with eight rebounds and seven assists. Aiden Sherrell and Taylor Bol Bowen each dropped 15 points, and Latrell Wrightsell Jr. and Amari Allen each added 11 points.
The 20-point margin was not indicative of how competitive Hofstra (24-11) kept it throughout. The Pride trailed by just five points after a victory Onuetu dunk with 5:55 to play. But the Crimson Tide (24-9) would engineer a 14-0 run not long after that to pull away from the Colonial Athletic Conference Tournament champs.
Preston Edmead led Hofstra with 24 points, Cruz Davis dropped 14 points, German Plotnikov chipped in 12 points and Biggie Patterson added 11 points. Alabama’s Sherrell grabbed a game-high 15 rebounds to help the Crimson Tide outrebound the Pride 46-34.
Alabama advances to Sunday’s second round, where it will take on fifth-seeded Texas Tech – which thumped 12th-seeded Akron 91-71 earlier Friday afternoon. Holloway, who was arrested earlier in the week in Tuscaloosa with over two pounds of marijuana in his residence, is not expected to return to the Crimson Tide lineup for the rest of the NCAA Tournament.
An APSE national award-winning writer and editor, David Wasson has almost four decades of experience in the print journalism business in Florida and Alabama. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and several national magazines and websites. His Twitter handle: @JustDWasson.
