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Nate Oats applauds Mark Sears’s 2nd-half urgency in win over Robert Morris
By Paul Harvey
Published:
Nate Oats guided Alabama to another March Madness appearance this season, punching a ticket to the NCAA Tournament as a 2-seed in the East Region. However, 15-seed Robert Morris delivered a true wakeup call for the Crimson Tide on Friday.
That showdown between the Colonials and the Tide featured a 40-36 lead for Alabama at halftime, but Robert Morris would answer back. The Horizon League champions were led by Amarion Dickerson with 25 points, and the Colonials even took a slim 65-64 lead with just over 7 minutes left in the game.
Alabama would rally, eventually putting things to bed late but never feeling truly comfortable in the 90-81 win. The Tide pushed the lead all the way to 12 points just inside of 2 minute sleft to play before making enough free throws to put it out of reach.
After the game, Oats praised Dickerson for being everywhere on the glass as he finished with 9 total rebounds and 6 offensive boards. Robert Morris actually had a 15-4 edge in 2nd-chance points in the game.
However, it was the urgency displayed by Mark Sears that Oats praised as a key factor for Alabama. The head coach said he could see that Sears did not want Friday to be his last game in an Alabama uniform, turning up the heat in the 2nd half and down the stretch.
“They’re a good team, we’ve got to give them a lot of credit,” admitted Oats. “Dickerson was all over the glass, we didn’t do a very good job on him. I think (Mark) Sears didn’t want it to be his last game, you could kind of see his sense of urgency went way up in the 2nd half. Got himself to the rim, got some and-1s.”
In the first half, Sears was held to just 3 points and 2 free-throw attempts with 4 assists, but it was a different story after the break. Sears scored 19 points and went to the free-throw line 11 times (making 10 of those attempts) to go with 6 assists and just 1 turnover over the final 20 minutes of the game.
That closing stretch by Sears — and some late minutes for Grant Nelson — has Alabama safely into the next round of the NCAA Tournament. The Tide await the winner of Saint Mary’s vs. Vanderbilt.
Paul Harvey lives in Atlanta and covers SEC football.
