Hot-shooting No. 15 Alabama Beats Texas A&M 100-75 – News18

TUSCALOOSA, Ala.: Mark Sears had 23 points, four rebounds, four assists and three steals and hot-shooting No. 15 Alabama beat Texas A&M 100-75 on Saturday.

Rylan Griffen scored 17, Latrell Wrightsell Jr. had 16 and Aaron Estrada and Sam Walters added 11 each for Alabama (18-7, 9-2 SEC). Walters led the Crimson Tide with eight rebounds.

Sears made four of his seven 3-point shots and eight of his 14 shots from the floor, leading an Alabama offense that was overwhelming. The Crimson Tide finished the game shooting 52% from the field (37 of 71) and 44% from 3-point range (18 of 41) and scored 22 fast-break points to Texas A&M’s four.

Tyrece Radford led Texas A&M (15-10, 6-6 SEC) with 22 points and four rebounds, but he also accounted for five of the Aggies’ 15 turnovers. Solomon Washington had 14 points and eight rebounds while Henry Coleman III contributed 12 and Wade Taylor IV had 10.

Alabama led by six points with six minutes left in the first half, then quickly expanded that lead to 15 points in the next two minutes. Only once after that did Texas A&M narrow the deficit to single digits, a window of opportunity that lasted only until the next score.

BIG PICTURE

Sears continues to play at a level worthy of consideration for SEC Player of the Year honors. Sears and Tennessee’s Dalton Knecht entered Saturday nearly identical in points per game, with Sears averaging 20.5 and Knecht at 20.4. Knecht has outpaced Sears against conference competition, with Knecht entering Saturday averaging 26 points per game while Sears stood at 21.82.

Sears adds to his case, however, by ranking top 10 in the SEC in both assists and steals in all games, and top five in the SEC in assists against conference competition, his performance Saturday maintaining that standing.

Sears and Knecht will meet again when Alabama plays Tennessee on March 2; Tennessee won the first meeting on Jan. 20 at home, 91-71.

UP NEXT

Alabama: Hosts Florida on Wednesday.

Texas A&M: Returns home to host Arkansas on Tuesday.

___

Get poll alerts and updates on AP Top 25 basketball throughout the season. Sign up here. AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball

(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – Associated Press)