Jahvon Quinerly dished out a career-high 11 assists — many of them leading to a barrage of 3-pointers — powering the second-seeded Alabama Crimson Tide to a 96-77 win over the 10th-seeded Maryland Terrapins in a East Region second-round NCAA Tournament game in Indianapolis.
Jaden Shackelford scored a team-high 21 points, and John Petty Jr. added 20 points as the Tide (26-6), who have won 11 of their past 12 games, advanced to the Sweet 16 round for the first time since 2004.
Quinerly added 14 points for a double-double off the bench.
Alabama entered the game leading the nation in 3-pointers (325) and made 16-of-33 from long range to break the program’s previous single-season record of 334 3-pointers, which was set last year.
The Tide is also closing in on the program record for wins of 27, set in 2002.
Aaron Wiggins scored a game-high 27 points to lead Maryland (17-14). Eric Ayala added 13 points.
Alabama, which is on a 20-3 run in its past 23 games, was so dominant that it didn’t need much from Herbert Jones, the SEC’s Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year. Jones scored six points and grabbed six rebounds.
Maryland senior forward Galin Smith, who played 94 games in three years for Alabama, scored two points against his former school.
Early on, Maryland led 14-7 with 14:44 left in the first half. But Alabama took a 25-22 lead with 9:31 remaining in the half and never trailed again, going into the break up 46-38.
The teams’ shooting percentage were nearly identical in the first half — Alabama 51.5 percent and Maryland 50. But the Tide, who were plus-10 on rebounds, had a 12-2 edge on second-chance points and a 24-7 advantage on bench points.
Alabama started the second half on a 19-4 run, and the game was virtually over at that point.
For the game, Alabama won the rebound battle, 40-19, and shot 53 percent from the floor.
Maryland lost big despite shooting 53.3 percent from the floor, including 10-for-27 on 3-pointers (37 percent).
–Field Level Media