Georgia Tech tops Syracuse 84-77 for fourth straight victory
For the first time in 45 years, Alabama is the Southeastern Conference champion in football and men’s basketball.
Jaden Shackleford scored 10 of his 15 points in the second half, and No. 6 Alabama beat Mississippi State 6459 on Saturday night to clinch its first SEC regular-season championship since 2002.
The men’s basketball crown comes just two months after the powerhouse Crimson Tide football team claimed the conference title on the way to winning the national championship. It’s the first time both programs won titles in the same academic year since 197576, and ending a 19-year drought in basketball was cause for celebration.
“I went in there and they dumped a bunch of water on me,” second-year Crimson Tide coach Nate Oats said of the joyous postgame locker room. “They were already celebrating before we got off the floor. They were fired up about it, they knew what was at stake. It’s big. It doesn’t happen very often.”
Alabama (19-6, 14-2) led by double digits for much of the game, but the Bulldogs (13-12, 7-9) closed to 56-53 on Iverson Molinar’s layup with 4:17 left. Mississippi State had a chance to draw even closer over the next three minutes, but Alabama came up with a couple of big stops and James Rojas drained a 3 from the right corner to make it 59-53 with 43 seconds left.
D.J. Stewart Jr. made four free throws for MSU in the final minute, but Alabama went 5 for 6 at the line down the stretch, including two successful attempts for John Petty Jr. with 11.9 seconds to go. Alabama held on despite shooting just 32%, including 25% from beyond the arc.
Jahvon Quinerly had 19 points for Alabama, including 15 before halftime that helped the Tide snap out of a cold shooting start. Herbert Jones grabbed 14 rebounds, helping Alabama to a 4540 advantage on the glass.
Stewart scored 15 points for the Bulldogs, who had won their past two games. Deivon Smith had 12 points and 13 rebounds, and Molinar scored 11 points.
Moses Wright dunked his way to 31 points, tying his season high, and Georgia Tech strengthened its NCAA Tournament chances by beating Syracuse 84-77 on Saturday for the Yellow Jackets’ fourth consecutive win.
Wright scored 19 points and had six of his seven dunks in the second half when the Yellow Jackets (13-8, 9-6 Atlantic Coast Conference) were able to pull away from the Orange (13-8, 7-7), who saw their NCAA chances dissipate further with their second straight loss.
Wright was 14-of-25 shooting with 16 rebounds, including nine on the offensive boards, in posting his fifth double-double in his last 10 games. Jordan Usher added 19 points and six assists and Michael Devoe 18 points and six assists. The Yellow Jackets had 26 assists on 33 field goals and that showed up with 54-24 bulge in points in the paint.
A day after the NCAA overturned multiple sanctions levied against the Georgia Tech men’s basketball program via an appeal ruling, the Yellow Jackets took a needed step on the court in its quest to return to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 11 years.
Trailing by five at halftime, Georgia Tech grabbed the lead for good on the first of Wright’s second-half dunks to help start off a 30-12 run that ended with the Yellow Jackets ahead 75-61 with 4 1/2 minutes remaining. Syracuse wouldn’t get closer than seven thereafter.
Alan Griffin had four 3-pointers and scored 26 points, Quincy Gerrier added 13 points and Buddy Boeheim, who had a combined 60 points in last two games, finished with 12 for Syracuse. Joe Girard added 10 points.
Wright scored the game’s first two baskets as Georgia Tech jumped out to a 17-5 lead. The lead was 13 before Syracuse responded with a 23-5 run, with eight points each from Griffin and Girard, to finish the half ahead 39-34.
Georgia Tech ensured its first back-to-back ACC winning seasons since 1990.
Syracuse is home for its final two-regular season games, playing North Carolina on Monday and Clemson on Wednesday. Georgia Tech is host to Duke on Tuesday and ends the regular season at Wake Forest on Friday.