Alabama rallies, holds off Appalachian State
Cecil Hurt
TideSports.com Columnist
Like Ugly Christmas Sweater champions across America in this holiday season, the Alabama men's basketball team managed to find a way to knit together just enough awful ingredients to win.
The Crimson Tide, which trailed for most of the game, rallied to take a 60-59 win over Appalachian State on Sunday, surviving a final Mountaineer 3-point shot that went awry in the game's final second.
The Mountaineers (3-6) had gained possession on a five-second closely-guarded call against the Crimson Tide's Levi Randolph with 27 seconds remaining. Alabama (8-3), which had just four fouls going into the sequence, fouled twice to force ASU to inbounds twice, including the final play with 3.5 seconds remaining. The Mountaineers' top scorer, Frank Eaves, got off a contested 3-pointer that missed off the rim, allowing Alabama to survive with the one-point win.
"They had hurt us in the first half getting to the rim on some loop action," Alabama coach Anthony Grant said. "We had a flurry of timeouts in that last exchange and we decided to go zone and Riley (Norris) did a great job of getting a contest on his shot."
UA took a 60-56 lead on a Michael Kessens' layup with 2:34 to go, but missed free throws and turnovers prevented UA from extending the lead. Meanwhile, a Dustin Clarke 3-pointer with 1:56 remaining pulled Appalachian State back within a point and set up the game-ending drama.
Alabama found itself staring at a nine-point deficit, 16-7, early in the first half and spent much of the game trying to find a way to erase that margin. The Crimson Tide rallied on a couple of occasions but was still down by five points, 54-46, with 10 minutes to play. An 8-0 run at that point gave UA the lead, but the Crimson Tide never could pull away.
Grant noted he was "proud of the group that we had out there at the end."
Kessens, in particular, had his best game since transferring to UA from Longwood College, recording a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds.
"I still don't think he is 100 percent (physically) so for him to be able to go out and do that, I think It is good for him from a mental standpoint," Grant said.
Tommy Spagnolo of Appalachian State also had a double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds.
"They really dictated to us for much of the game," Appalachian State coach Jim Fox said. "On the last play, the thing that you can't simulate with them is that they close out. I thought (Eaves) was open but when you think you're open against their athletic, long
guys and they close out, sometimes you're not.
"We battled against a really good team and we've just got to get over that hump now."
