LOS ANGELES — With their school’s first visit to the Final Four on the line, fourth-seeded Alabama basketball made 10 3-pointers and shot 68.2% from the field in the second half and overcame sixth-seeded Clemson’s stifling defense to earn the program’s most important win ever, 89-82 in the NCAA Tournament on Saturday night at Crypto.com Arena.
Senior guard Mark Sears scored 18 of his game-high 23 points in the second half, including a dagger stepback 3-pointer to go up 82-75 with 1:15 remaining to lead Alabama (25-11).
“Just feeling a lot of emotions,” Sears said, an Alabama native from Muscle Shoals, who was named the West Regional’s Most Outstanding Player. “Being from Alabama, the state of Alabama, and to do it with this group of guys, it’s amazing.”
Freshman forward Jarin Stevenson finished with a career-high 19 points, including five 3-pointers.
“It’s mainly just practice,” Stevenson said when asked about what gave him the confidence to keep shooting after airballing a 3-pointer. “I knew just from practice I can knock those shots down.”
The Crimson Tide shot 46.8% (29 of 62), including 44.4 from 3-point range (16 of 36). Sears finished 7 of 14 from beyond the arc.
“We’re not trying to shoot 50 3s, we’re trying to take the most efficient shots we can,” Alabama coach Nate Oats said.
However, the Tigers (24-12) held Alabama to 20% shooting early (5 of 25) and established a 26-13 lead with 7:54 left in the first half.
Clemson’s defense was clinical early in the West Regional. Still, the Crimson Tide, led by Stevenson and sophomore guard Rylan Griffen (combined 4 of 9 from beyond the arc in the first half), worked hard to make enough 3-pointers to retake the lead 29-28 with 2:52 left in the first half.
Alabama shot 33.3% in the first half (13 of 39) but led 35-32 at halftime. Stevenson had a team-high 10 points off the bench in the first half and later made his first two 3-pointers of the second half and helped…
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