Steele Leads Bama to Overtime Victory over Arkansas
1/18/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Steele Leads Bama to Overtime Victory over Arkansas
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
By Kyle Murphy, UA Media Relations
TUSCALOOSA ?? Led by sophomore point guard Ronald Steele, the University of Alabama men's basketball team rallied from a 13 point deficit in the second half to defeat the Arkansas Razorbacks 78-75 in overtime, giving the Tide its third straight SEC win.
The win improved Alabama's conference record to 3-1. After dropping its first SEC game to the Ole Miss Rebels, Bama won two straight on the road at Auburn and Kentucky before coming back home to win the overtime thriller over the Razorbacks.
Alabama was down by as many as 13 points with 12:22 left to go in the second half after Arkansas opened the half with a 21-7 run. The Tide would storm back to tie the game at the end of regulation. After Steele was fouled by Arkansas guard Dontell Jefferson with nine seconds left in the game, he hit three clutch free throws to tie the game at 67, and send the teams into overtime.
Steele had arguably his best performance of the season, leading all players with 25 points, a season high for the point guard from Birmingham. He shot 8-for-13 from the field and was 7-for-8 from the free throw line, including the three to keep Bama in the game at the end.
"We shoot free throws everyday," said Steele, "I just tried to stay calm and make the shots.
"A lot of people wrote us off before this game. We refuse to lose. This game showed we have a lot of heart."
The Tide had three other players in double figures, including last week's SEC Player of the Week Jermareo Davidson, who had 19 points and nine rebounds. Freshman Richard Hendrix picked up a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds.
Jean Felix had 12 points, two of which came on a key play near the end of the ballgame. After making a free throw with 1:26 remaining in the game to cut Arkansas' lead down to three, Felix missed his second foul shot but hustled to the basket to grab the rebound and put in a layup to cut the Razorbacks' lead to one.
Arkansas was led by Ronnie Brewer who scored 22 points. Darian Townes contributed 17 points and Charles Thomas added 12.
"I am so proud of our guys," said Alabama head coach Mark Gottfried.
"I think you have a chance to win games when you have great character. Our guys showed character and dug down deep and kept fighting. It was a game for Alabama where every player stepped up and made plays."
Alabama (10-6, 3-1 SEC) will travel to Baton Rouge on Saturday for an SEC West showdown against the LSU Tigers (11-5, 3-0 SEC). Tip-off is scheduled for 2 p.m. and the game will be televised by JP-Sports. The Tide returns to Coleman Coliseum Saturday, January 28 when they take on SEC West rival Mississippi State Bulldogs at 6 p.m.
