Alabama
Tennessee
Men's Basketball Upsets Tennessee, 70-67
3/8/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 8, 2009
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - Junior Anthony Brock banked home a 30-foot shot as time expired to give the University of Alabama men's basketball team a 70-67 road victory over Tennessee in the Crimson Tide's final Southeastern Conference game of the season Sunday afternoon. The win is the Tide's fourth in its last five games and moves Alabama up to the fourth seed from the SEC West in the upcoming SEC tournament.
With the score tied 67-67, the Tide defense came up with a crucial stop to get the ball back with four seconds left. Alabama took a time-out and on the subsequent play got the ball into Brock's hands. He then dribbled through traffic, pulled up and knocked down the game-winner as the buzzer sounded.
The game was tight down the stretch with five ties and six lead changes in the final 10:18 of action. Tennessee climbed back into the game with an 11-0 run early in the second half after trailing by 10 points at the break. That spurt cut the lead to 43-42 and from that point neither team led by more than four points the rest of the way.
Alabama's starting backcourt tandem, sophomore Senario Hillman and junior Mikhail Torrance, each scored in double figures with 16 and 12 points respectively. Hillman made 3-6 shots from beyond the three-point arc. His 16 points led all scorers.
Brock's buzzer-beater gave him eleven points for the game to round out the Tide players in double figures. The junior-college transfer was a perfect 3-3 from the field with all of his shots coming from three-point range. Freshman JaMychal Green put together a solid effort, narrowly missing a double-double with nine points and 10 rebounds to go with three blocked shots.
Alabama shot 44 percent for the game and 40 percent (6-15) from behind the arc while holding Tennessee to 39 percent from the field and 28 percent (7-25) from three-point range. The biggest discrepancy came at the foul line where the Crimson Tide went 16-19 compared to 10-22 for the Volunteers.
Brock and freshman Andrew Steele gave Alabama a spark off the bench in the first half, helping the Tide build a 39-29 lead at the break. The two combined for 11 straight Alabama points over a four-minute period midway through the half that extended the Crimson Tide lead to nine points at 27-18.
Alabama played stifling defense in the first frame, especially from long range where the Volunteers shot 9 percent (1-11) on three-pointers. The Tide defense also forced eight turnovers that led to 15 points.
Tennessee forwards Tyler Smith and Wayne Chism each posted double-doubles for the Volunteers. Chism scored a team-high 13 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, and Smith had 11 points and 11 boards.
Alabama travels to Tampa, Fla. to take on Vanderbilt in the first round of the SEC tournament on Thursday, March 12. The game is scheduled to tip-off at 6:30 CT and will be televised by Raycom Sports.
