Last night’s part two of the Iron Bowl of Basketball was nothing short of phenomenal. Auburn shot the lights out of the ball in by far their best shooting performance of the season and was able to keep the Crimson Tide offense at bay for much of the night. The Tigers got out to a 17-point lead at one point and held a 16-point lead with just 11 minutes remaining, but a furious 16-0 run from Alabama got them back in it.
It was the largest comeback for the Crimson Tide since 2010 when Alabama overcame an 18-point deficit to beat the South Carolina Gamecocks in the SEC Tournament.
Rylan Griffen and Charles Bediako were ejected in the midst of the comeback for leaving the bench during a tie-up between Jahvon Quinerly and Johni Broome which eventually, after a lengthy delay, led to a questionable foul called on Broome.
Jahvon Quinerly played probably the best game of his career after an up-and-down year, scoring 24 points, accounting for six assists, and most importantly, having zero turnovers. He seemed to be in control and calm in a manner that we have not seen Quinerly probably since his heroic performance in Alabama’s SEC Tournament triumph where he was named the most outstanding player.
For Auburn, the loss is devastating. They now must beat Tennessee on Saturday afternoon to lock up a spot in the NCAA Tournament headed into the SEC Tournament. To hold a 17-point second half lead on the road in what would have been a season-defining win is absolutely crushing for the Tigers.
For Alabama, you couldn’t write a better script. A giant comeback win against their most hated rival to seal a perfect home record and lock up a second SEC regular season title in three years, plus the opportunity to have fans in the stand for the net cutting ceremony.
Everything still lies ahead for this team. This was a great win, but they cannot afford to continue to play huge stretches of games performing poorly like they did last night. Winning the SEC regular season is a huge accomplishment, but the next frontier is the SEC Tournament and of course the big dance. That all being said, the Crimson Tide earned itself some celebrating in Coleman last night.
