When Alabama needed Final Four fuel, Mark Sears provided it
Mark Sears was so far outside the 3point line, his heels were no more than a couple of inches from the edge of the March Madness logo at center court. Was the Alabama basketball star point guard 25 feet from the basket? Maybe 26? He didn’t care.
And coach Nate Oats didn’t either. Sears was feeling it, after all, and Alabama basketball history belonged in his hands. So the senior let it fly and buried the long-range shot that, as much as any other basket the Crimson Tide made, sparked an 89-82 win over Clemson for the NCAA Tournament’s West Region title and Alabama’s firstever Final Four berth.
“It felt like it was from half-court,” Oats said.
Not quite, but Sears’ heave gave UA a 68-59 lead, coming amid his scorchinghot second half, and was enough of a gut punch that Tigers coach Brad Brownell responded by calling a timeout with 6:12 remaining.
His team never recovered.
A few weeks ago, Oats noted that his coaching staff has charted its 3-point shooters to learn which of them should keep their toes close to the 3-point line and which can score just as consistently from farther back.
Sears is among those with the longdistance green light. So with the Crimson Tide needing a spark to extend a slim lead, Sears knocked down five consecutive 3-pointers in the second half, the aforementioned launch from logo-land fourth among them, to finish with a game-high 23 points. The first-team AllSEC pick, who was a relatively sure bet to score 20 on any given night for the Crimson Tide all season, was named Most Outstanding Player in the tournament’s West Region.
“Hard work is undefeated. I live for those moments. This is what March Madness is about,” Sears told the TBS broadcast after the game. “When you’re a kid, you want to be in these moments, and my dream came true today.”