Alonzo Gee’s 28 points led the Alabama Crimson Tide basketball team to a thrilling 87-85 double-overtime victory over the Mississippi State Bulldogs Saturday at Coleman Coliseum in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
“Our kids didn’t make the plays here or there to win the basketball game. I wouldn’t call it a lack of effort or lack of fighting,” MSU head coach Rick Stansbury said. “As a coach, that’s all you can ever ask, everybody just leave your hardest on the floor, and we did that.”
The first half was a back-and-forth battle, with neither team pulling more than four points ahead of the other. Senior forward Brian Johnson hit a jumpshot at the buzzer to give the Bulldogs a 30-29 halftime lead.
The Bulldogs got off to a fast start in the second half, leading by nine with 13:56 to go, but the Crimson Tide battled back. Junior guard Anthony Brock’s layup tied it at 52 with 8:09 to go. The Crimson Tide opened up a lead from there, which junior guard Barry Stewart cut to one with a clutch three-pointer with 33 seconds to go. With the score tied at 67, junior center Jarvis Varnado blocked junior guard Mikhail Torrence’s shot at the buzzer to send the game into overtime.
Varnado opened the scoring in the first overtime with a pair of free throws, but fouled out with 2:17 to go.
“I wanted to be out there, but unfortunately I wasn’t. It was real frustrating; I couldn’t lead my team to victory,” Varnado said.
Down by three with 1:05 to go, Stewart hit another clutch three to tie it. After a Crimson Tide turnover, the Bulldogs had a chance to win but neither of Stewart’s shots made it in, so the game went into a second overtime.
Gee took over in the second overtime, dunking the ball, hitting two free throws, and two three-pointers. Despite this, the Bulldogs had a chance to shoot for the lead down 86-85 with 11 seconds to go, but Stewart was unable to make a shot due to the defense of Alabama sophomore Senario Hillman
“I knew [Stewart] was going to try to take over, so I knew I had to stop him,” Hillman said. “He posted me, and I just kept saying, ‘Stop him, stop him,’ and that’s what I did.”
Stewart led the Bulldogs with 20 points and brought down 10 rebounds. Varnado also had a double-double, scoring 16 points and 11 rebounds, and blocked eight shots. Freshman guard Dee Bost scored 17 points, sophomore forward Ravern Johnson had 14 points and sophomore guard Phil Turner added 10.
The Crimson Tide was led by Gee’s 28 points, and he also had 10 rebounds. Freshman forward JaMychal Green had a double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds. Hillman scored 21 points, while junior forward Demetrius Jemison had 11 points off the bench.
The loss drops the Bulldogs to 17-10 (7-5 SEC), tied for fifth in the SEC standings and second in the SEC West, one game ahead of Auburn and Ole Miss. The Crimson Tide improved to 14-12 (4-8 SEC), good enough for 10th in the SEC and fifth in the West.
“We didn’t give up and they didn’t give up. This time, they got the better end of the bargain, but not because we didn’t do all that we could,” Turner said. “This time the ball didn’t roll in our favor. Next time we’ll get them.”
The Bulldogs will face the Tennessee Volunteers Wednesday at 8 p.m. at Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville, Tenn. The Volunteers are currently 16-10 (7-5) SEC. The game will be televised by Raycom.