For a moment, he was tense at the Coleman Coliseum. Alabama’s lead dropped to five and the party-destroying rival got a boost with eight minutes to go.
A contested 3 points was all that No. 8 Crimson Tide needed to light the final spark.
John Petty’s long ball sparked the final wave and shattered Auburn’s hopes of playing spoilers on Tuesday night in Tuscaloosa.
The 70-58 victory in Alabama completed the sweep of the first season at Auburn since 2014-15 and the final 10-0 run was decisive. The dormant 3-point kick returned in time to give strength to that late push on a night when Auburn had trouble taking care of the ball.
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Alabama (20-6, 15-2 SEC) has already won its first regular season title in the league since 2002 and closes the regular season on Saturday in Georgia. It was the first time that Alabama has achieved 20 regular season wins since the 2010-11 season.
Auburn played without scorer Sharife Cooper, who lost his third straight game due to an ankle injury. He made the trip to Tuscaloosa and warmed up, but did not appear in the game.
Auburn (12-14, 6-11) never led, but reduced to five with JT Thor’s robbery and layup with 8:05 left.
The story of the game was Auburn’s neglect of the ball and Alabama’s ability to take advantage of it. The Tigers have had 23 twists in the season – accumulating 15 in the first half alone – with Tide using them to speed up the pace. The home team scored 24 points after taking a 17-2 advantage in this category for the half-time locker room. This was also the highest turnover score of the season for an Alabama opponent, as four drew previously with 20.
This started fast for Alabama, scoring five quick points in the first 40 seconds of the game. He led by up to 16 points before the break, as the 3-point shot improved a few times. After hitting just 28 of the last 100 in the last three games, Alabama made 10 to 35 Jaden Shackelford hit two consecutive games in the first half to propel a 17-2 streak that opened the door.
Shackelford’s 23 points overcame Alabama by making it 5 out of 9 from the perimeter. He was in a shooting crisis, but said on Monday that the key to breaking this was simply to “keep shooting”.
“It was great that Shack started taking some pictures,” said Oats. “He worked so hard. He’s in the gym. He’s a great kid and just tell him to keep shooting. “
He was one of Alabama’s nine top scorers, with Jahvon Quinerly and Petty scoring 11 points each, while Herbert Jones has 10 to complete the double-digit scorers.
Jamal Johnson gave the Tigers a boost at the end of the semester, with eight consecutive points, but it was not enough to keep the pace of Alabama’s score balanced. He finished with 10, while Jaylin Williams led with 13.
This post will be updated.
Michael Casagrande is a reporter for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ByCasagrande or in the Facebook.