Alabama bows out of SEC Tournament

ATLANTA | It wasn’t the tornado that did it.

It wasn’t even the missed 3-pointer that Mykal Riley, Alabama’s late-season hero, barely missed.

Those are the indelible images of the 69-67 overtime loss to Mississippi State that knocked the Alabama Crimson Tide out of the Southeastern Conference Tournament. The game — an intense affair with a 64-minute interruption due to a severe tornadic storm in the downtown Atlanta area — was settled over the course of the second half as the Mississippi State defense slowly stifled Alabama’s offense.

The Crimson Tide led 36-29 at halftime but scored just 23 points in the second half, hitting just three field goals in the final 10 minutes of regulation. One was an Alonzo Gee dunk, one was a tip-in by Richard Hendrix and one was a dramatic Riley 3-pointer that sent the game into overtime — and possibly saved lives, since it kept tournament patrons in their Georgia Dome seats when the worst weather roared through downtown Atlanta.

“Our problems offensively were a direct result of their defense,” Gottfried said. “They’re a very good defensive team. They’re good on the perimeter and around the basket they make it very, very difficult to score.

“Our execution was awfully good. We just had a hard time getting anything around the basket and you’ve got to give Mississippi State credit for that.”

The two teams were tied with 1:28 remaining in regulation.

MSU (22-9) then took a 58-56 lead on a thunderous Jamont Gordon dunk with 1:19 remaining. Brandon Hollinger then missed a 3-pointer, but Alonzo Gee made a steal on the other end with 20 seconds remaining.

The Crimson Tide ran a play for Richard Hendrix, who powered the ball up but had his shot blocked with seven seconds remaining. MSU’s Barry Stewart was fouled on the rebound and made one foul shot to up the lead to 59-56.

But with one-tenth of a second remaining, Riley drained a tying 3-pointer.

Alabama scored the first two points of overtime on a pair of Gee free throws, but MSU responded with a 7-0 run to take a 66-61 lead with 50 seconds remaining.

That “run” included the lengthy weather delay.

After basketball was restored, Riley hit two free throws to cut the lead to 66-63. Gotdon – who led all scorers with 23 points — hit one free throw and Hendrix answered with a putback dunk to cut the lead to 67-65. Gordon then hit two foul shots and Hendrix a tip-in to make the score 69-67. MSU’s Ben Hansbrough then missed both free throws.

Riley attempted to drive for a tying two-poiunter, but his shot was blocked by Charles Rhodes and went out of band with a half-second to play.

The inbounds pass came to Riley, whose attempt rimmed out.

“It felt like it was a good shot but it just didn’t fall,” Riley said. “I thought it was in. It just went in and came out.”

The loss drops Alabama to 17-16 and may end the Crimson Tide season. It is not certain if Alabama would receive a bid to the NIT, or if UA officials would accept a bid to the new College Basketball Invitational if it were proffered.

“I hope we get to play,” Gottfried said. “We want to play. I don’t know how all that works. I think it’s a lot harder to get into the NIT for teams like us than it once was. (But) if you start doing the eye test, and you use your gut and say are we one of those next 32 teams, we might be in that group.”

The loss was Alabama’s fourth straight to Mississippi State, including three defeats this season.

Riley led UA with 18 points. Hendrix had 15 points and 13 rebounds.