Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Sexton leads Alabama’s 2nd-half surge in upset
ST. LOUIS — Auburn’s offense was flowing at the end of the first half. Desean Murray hit his third 3-pointer and ripped off five straight points to put the Tigers up 41-31 over the Crimson Tide at halftime.
Then, the Collin Sexton show started.
Sexton scored 31 points and Alabama used a strong second half to defeat No. 16 Auburn 81-63 Friday in the quarterfinals of the Southeastern Conference Tournament.
The Crimson Tide started the second half on a 28-3 run keyed by three consecutive 3s by Sexton. Alabama’s surge put the Tigers away early in the half, and the Crimson Tide (19-14) outscored Auburn 50-22 after the break.
“I didn’t raise my voice,” Alabama coach Avery Johnson said. “I used understandable English, no bad words, and we just talked about how we needed to improve in the second half, and they did it.”
Mustapha Heron led Auburn (25-7) with 18 points, 11 of which came in the first half. Desean Murray scored 15 points, all in the first half. The Tigers moved the ball well on offense and drilled seven 3s in the first half.
By the time halftime arrived, it was all Sexton. The freshman scored 21 secondhalf points. The performance came after he scored 27 points and hit the gamewinning shot against Texas A&M on Thursday.
Auburn’s shooting struggles continued. Jared Harper finished 2 of 11 with seven points. Bryce Brown shot 1-for-8 from beyond the arc. The Tigers shot just 24 percent in the second half and 1-for-14 from 3-point range.
“It was a tale of two halves,” Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said. “We did what we wanted to do in the first half. At the start of the second half, they came down and flipped the table on us really quickly.”
On his way off the court following Auburn’s loss, Pearl appeared to bump into Alabama strength and conditioning coach Lou DeNeen. “I think he may have clipped me, and then he said something to me,” Pearl said after the game. “Of course, I should be able to walk off the floor without having somebody stand in front of me and try to make contact with me. So that was all it was.”
Alabama came into the SEC Tournament on a fivegame losing streak and in danger of falling out of NCAA contention. But after dominating Auburn, the Tide are at 19 wins and have won games against six ranked opponents this season. Johnson made his pitch to the committee following the game.
“We feel we have one of the most impressive resumes with any team in the country with all our top-25 wins, quadrant-one wins, winning on a neutral floor, back-to-back games in the SEC Tournament against two outstanding teams that are projected and supposedly already in the tournament,” he said.
“When we came in this tournament, we had to win games,” Sexton added.
Auburn spent much of its season either in or around the Top 10 in The Associated Press poll, but the Tigers have encountered shooting slumps at times late in the season. Auburn’s underwhelming finish may make them susceptible to an upset in the NCAA Tournament, as Pearl acknowledged postgame.
“We’ll see where our draw’s going to be, but let’s say we’re in the 4, 5 area,” Pearl said. “I’ve been a 12 before, and I’ve beaten the 5. But the most interesting thing about the 5-12 matchups is anything can happen in those matchups.” KENTUCKY 62, GEORGIA 49: John Calipari never had any doubt Kentucky fans would make their annual pilgrimage to this year’s Southeastern Conference Tournament, even if it was west of the Mississippi River in St. Louis’ Scottrade Center.
Big Blue Nation was on hand, and in full force, as the Wildcats made their tournament debut with a 62-49 win over Georgia in the quarterfinals on Friday.
PJ Washington scored 18 points to lead Kentucky, which entered as the No. 4 seed — the first time the school hasn’t been a toptwo seed since Calipari was hired in 2009. Even the upand-down regular season, however, couldn’t keep away a Wildcats fan base that has celebrated 30 SEC Tournament titles in its history, including the last three straight.
Of the 16,364 in attendance for the afternoon tipoff, the sea of blue left little doubt about whether Kentucky’s usual crop of heralded freshmen would feel right at home against the surprising No. 12 seed Bulldogs (18-15).
“I think there was more blue than any other team in the whole tournament,” Wildcats freshman Kevin Knox said. “They travel pretty much anywhere else in the world to watch us play. It’s good to know you’ve got your fans in there when you play any game, and they’re there to support you.”
Knox and Shai GilgeousAlexander each added 15 points in the win, which was Kentucky’s fifth in its last six games following a four-game losing streak.
Georgia was playing its third game in as many days after advancing in the tournament with earlier victories over Vanderbilt and Missouri . The emotionally charged Bulldogs took a 23-22 lead late in the first half after a pair of free throws by Associated Press SEC player of the year Yante Maten, but the edge was short-lived.
The Wildcats responded with an 8-0 run to take a 30-23 halftime lead and surged ahead by as many as 17 points in the second half.
Tyree Crump led Georgia with 17 points, while Maten was held to nine points on 2 of 10 shooting. The Bulldogs’ 49 points were the lowest Kentucky has limited any opponent to this season.
“It was their third game in three days,” Calipari said. “Our whole thing wasL: `et’s get into their legs. Let’s pressure them. Let’s do things to get into their legs.’ That was probably the biggest reason.”
The 6-foot-7 Washington finished 8 of 12 from the field for Kentucky. Washington has followed a stretch of five games in a row of scoring in single digits by scoring 10 or more in seven straight.
The Wildcats face ninthseeded Alabama today.