Rylan Griffen scored 16 points off the bench and Mark Sears added 15 as No. 3 Alabama extended its unbeaten Southeastern Conference streak with a 77-69 win over host Auburn on Saturday.
Griffen made 5 of 7 shots from the floor — including 3 of 5 from 3-point range — for Alabama (22-3, 12-0 SEC).
Sears was 5 of 7 from the field for the Crimson Tide, who outscored the Tigers 40-32 in the second half.
Brandon Miller had 13 points and six rebounds and Jaden Bradley added 12 points for Alabama. Noah Clowney had six points and seven rebounds after battling early foul trouble in the first half.
Wendell Green Jr. had a team-high 24 points for Auburn (17-8, 7-5).
Jaylin Williams added 16 points, while K.D. Johnson added 12 points, seven rebounds and three assists off the bench for the Tigers.
Johni Broome was limited to eight points and nine rebounds by a scrappy Alabama defense.
With 11:42 to play in the second half, the Tigers maintained a 53-52 lead as the game went back and forth. A 9-2 run, sparked by seven points from Sears, put the Tide up 61-59 with less than seven minutes to play. Alabama extended its lead to 68-64 with 3:57 to go in the game behind a 3-pointer from Griffen and a driving layup from Miller.
Two free throws by Green trimmed Alabama’s lead to 71-67 with less than two minutes to play. But Griffen answered with a dunk with 58 seconds remaining in the game, which ended all hopes of an Auburn comeback.
A 9-2 Alabama run, sparked by a three-point play by Miller, trimmed Auburn’s lead to 20-19 with 8:46 to play in the opening half. A thunderous dunk by Dylan Cardwell put the home team up by three.
The Crimson Tide took their first lead, 23-22, of the game on a short jumper by Miller with just over seven minutes to go until halftime.
A three-point play by Miller gave Alabama a 37-35 lead with under a minute to play in the opening half before Green sank a jumper to forge a tie.
–Field Level Media