Alabama
10-5, 1-2
Texas A&M
7-7, 1-2
Alabama Falls 81-80 to Texas A&M on a Final Second Buzzer-Beater
1/12/2019 5:49:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Sophomore John Petty Jr. scored a season-high 22 points to lead four Alabama players in double figures
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The Alabama men's basketball team fell in a heartbreaker to Texas A&M Saturday afternoon, 81-80, on a buzzer-beater inside Coleman Coliseum. The Aggies (7-7, 1-2 SEC) used a strong second half to come back from a 12-point deficit shortly after the half to secure a narrow win over the Crimson Tide (10-5, 1-2).
Sophomore John Petty Jr. led all scorers with a season-high 22 including six three-pointers. Senior Donta Hall recorded his seventh double-double of the season with 14 points, grabbed a career-high 16 rebounds and finished with four blocks. In doing so, Hall became the seventh player in program history to record 200 career blocks. Freshman Kira Lewis Jr. had 14 points and junior Tevin Mack added 10 of his own.
"This game was a tale of two halves for us," Alabama head coach Avery Johnson said. "We didn't do a very good job defensively in the second half. Give Texas A&M credit. I know Coach (Billy) Kennedy and his staff and you have to give them credit for having just an exceptional second half. I thought defensively we were as good as we've been all year long overall defensively in the first half. We had 11 assists in the first half and only 2 turnovers. Petty got open for some shots in the first half and we were driving it, we were moving it, we were moving our bodies. Even when we came up short defensively in the first half, I thought we just continued, we didn't give up. We got plagued by foul trouble in the second half and offensively we weren't as good. Obviously, we struggled to get the ball in bounds. When we finally get it in bounds, then we weren't as successful as we wanted to be from the line and unfortunately for us TJ Starks got away from us there on that last play of the game and won the game for them."
The Crimson Tide led for all but 52 seconds of the contest and seemed to have the game won after Lewis Jr. hit the second free throw to give his team an 80-78 lead with just over three seconds left. That's when Starks – a left-hander – dribbled the ball up the sideline and threw up a prayer while falling out of bounds that was somehow answered. It was the second home game this season the Tide has lost on a buzzer-beating three-pointer (fell to Georgia State, 83-80, back on Dec. 4).
Alabama came out swinging from the opening tip with a 10-2 run to start the game. After Texas A&M closed the gap, the Tide responded with a 9-0 run to take a 25-14 lead with 8:47 left in the first half. Alabama ended the half with an 11-point lead, 43-32, lead.
Texas A&M came storming out in the second half and eventually cut the lead to 53-51 with 11:50 remaining. However, after a pair of three-pointers from Petty and an Avery Johnson Jr. layup, the Tide extended its lead to seven, 62-55, with just under 10 minutes left in the contest.
That's when the Aggies began an 8-1 spurt to take its first lead at 63-62 at the 7:34. From there, the game saw seven ties and five lead changes ending with the Starks miracle to give Texas A&M its first league victory of the season.
The Tide will return to action on Wednesday, Jan. 16, when it travels to Columbia, Mo. to take on Missouri. Tipoff is set for 8 p.m. CT and will be broadcast on SEC Network.
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