Alabama
15-10, 8-5
Missouri
7-18, 2-11
Alabama Men’s Basketball Comes from Behind to Defeat Missouri, 57-54
2/15/2017 10:53:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Freshman Dazon Ingram led the Crimson Tide with a career-high 18 points
COLUMBIA, Mo. – Redshirt freshman guard Dazon Ingram scored a career-high 18 points to lead the Alabama men's basketball team to a come-from-behind 57-54 victory over the Missouri Tigers at the Mizzou Arena on Wednesday night. With the win, the Crimson Tide improves to an overall 15-10 record, including an 8-5 mark in Southeastern Conference play.
Ingram scored 15 of his game-high total over the final 20 minutes, as the Tide rallied from a double-digit deficit to earn its fifth road win in SEC play. Graduate transfer Bola Olaniyan registered a season high in rebounds with 14, while junior Riley Norris and freshman Braxton Key each added nine points in the victory.
"I think people will ask why I am so excited about this win. It's not just a win tonight, it's the way we won," Alabama head coach Avery Johnson said. "Our guys had a tough first half. We couldn't get much going, especially against their zone. We scrapped what we were doing against their zone at halftime. We went more to a man-to-man offensive look and got a couple of easy baskets. I'm so proud of our guys. This was a game we could have easily laid down and quit, because Coach (Kim) Anderson is doing a great job with his team under the circumstances. They've lost double digit games in a row and now they've come back and beat Arkansas and Vanderbilt at home and lost a tough one at Texas A&M. Under the circumstances, he really has his ball club playing at a high level. We rebounded better in the second half, and Braxton Key and Dazon Ingram triggered a comeback with their decision-making and their shot making. A lot of guys on our team deserve credit like Bola, but no more than these two young guys. I'm really proud of our guys, and of these two guys, because they really grew up tonight, especially in the last five to seven minutes of the game."
Missouri jumped out quickly in the opening half. With the Tigers holding a 9-8 lead, Missouri scored nine straight points to take an 18-8 lead with 6:43 left in the half. Alabama finished the opening stanza scoring five straight points, as Mizzou took a five-point lead, 23-18, headed into halftime.
Alabama opened the second half on an 8-5 spurt through the first four minutes to trim Missouri's lead to two points at 28-26. The Tide would eventually rally to even the score at 35-35 with 11:34 left to play.
Missouri (7-18, 2-11 SEC) then responded with a 14-4 run over the next 4:07 to take a 46-39 lead with 7:05 left to play. That's when Alabama's comeback began as the Tide bounced back, outscoring the Tigers 14-1 over the next 3:20. Ingram scored 10 points during the run, which gave Alabama a 53-47 lead with 3:24 left in regulation, forcing Missouri to call a timeout.
The Tigers would not go away, however, and was able to cut the lead to 55-54 with just over a minute left to play. The score stayed that way until Key was fouled with seven seconds to play. The Charlotte, N.C., native missed front end of a 1-and-1, but sophomore forward Donta Hall grabbed the offensive rebound and threw the ball to Ingram who was fouled with 3.7 seconds left. Ingram made both of his attempts and Missouri's half court heave fell short as the Tide claimed the victory.
After shooting just 21 percent in the opening half, Alabama connected on 48 percent from the field in the second half, while shooting 38 percent from beyond the arc.
For the game, the Tide shot 36 percent from the field and won the rebounding battle by a 39-36 margin. Missouri shot 34 percent from the field, while shooting 21 percent from behind the three-point line.
Alabama improved to 13-0 on the year when holding teams to below 62 points in a game.
K.J. Walton led the Tigers offensively with 12 points, while Kevin Puryear added 11. Jordan Barnett led Missouri in rebounds with 12.
The Tide will be back in action on Saturday, Feb. 18, when it hosts the LSU Tigers at Coleman Coliseum in a game that is set to broadcast on the SEC Network at 2:30 p.m. CT.
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