Men’s basketball routs Miami in second half 

Austin Hannon, Staff Reporter

After struggling on offense for the first two games of the ESPN Events Invitational, the Crimson Tide (6-1) made 16 3-pointers en route to a 96-64 win over the Miami Hurricanes (4-3).

Alabama outscored the Hurricanes 63-34 in the second half.

Guard Keon Ellis led the way with 22 points, including 17 in the second half. Ellis shot 5-for-6 from behind the 3-point line.

“It just happened to be me to be the one in the spots to knock down the shots,” Ellis said. “It was a good time down here. We learned from that first game. I think tonight showed how we bounced back.”

He wasn’t alone. Guard Jaden Shackelford shot 4-for-5 from beyond the arc in the second half and finished with 15 points.

Guard JD Davison and forward Juwan Gary also chipped in, each reaching 13 points on the stat sheet. Davison shot 6-for-8 from the field and came close to a triple-double, adding 10 assists and six rebounds.

“I just felt like we moved the ball a lot and got the defense shifting,” Davison said. “Seeing my teammates make shots, everything was going well for us.”

Miami was led by their three guards. Kameron McGusty scored 21 points and led the team in rebounds with 10. Isaiah Wong had 14 and Charlie Moore had 12.

The Crimson Tide out-rebounded the Hurricanes 42-23.

The game was in the Hurricanes favor for most of the first half, leading 27-18 after a technical foul was called on Alabama head coach Nate Oats. Everything changed in that moment.

Alabama finished the last six minutes of the half on a 15-3 run capped off by a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by guard Jahvon Quinerly. The Crimson Tide led 33-30 at the break.

That run continued throughout the rest of the game. At the 11:34 mark, Alabama led 58-38.

While Alabama was knocking down three after three, Miami continued to take timeouts in an attempt to stop the Crimson Tide barrage. 

The Crimson Tide scored 38 more points in the final 11 minutes and finished its last game in Orlando with a 32-point victory.

The Crimson Tide finished 16-for-30 from deep and 37-for-69 from the field overall.

“I thought our second half was as good of basketball as we’ve played all year,” Oats said. “It would have been nice to beat Iona and get in the championship, but sometimes you gotta take a loss and learn. It was really important that we finish 2-1. Would’ve been better if we had finished 2-1 losing in the championship, but it wasn’t meant to be. We just got to get better every game.”

The Crimson Tide will head to Seattle to take on the current No.1 Gonzaga Bulldogs. The game is scheduled for Dec. 4 at 7 p.m. CT on ESPN2.