Mark Sears scored 27 points and Aaron Estrada added 15 of his 22 points in the second half against his former team, leading No. 17 Alabama to a 99-91 win over Oregon on Saturday in a consolation game at the Emerald Coast Classic in Niceville, Fla.
Rylan Griffen added 17 points for the Crimson Tide, who had a 16-point lead in the second half whittled down to six in the final minutes before holding on to avoid a second straight upset. Alabama (5-1) lost to Ohio State 92-81 on Friday night.
Alabama had a huge advantage at the free-throw line, making 26 of 28 attempts compared to 12 of 15 for the Ducks (4-2). Oregon lost twice in the past two days, 88-82 to Santa Clara on Friday along with the loss to Alabama.
The Ducks will have to go at least four weeks without their top big man, N’Faly Dante, who had knee surgery this week. They will be without another key player, forward Nate Bittle, for at least eight weeks due to recent wrist surgery.
The missing pieces showed up in the box score, with Alabama outrebounding the Ducks 40-28.
Jermaine Couisnard scored 16 of his 24 points in the first half to lead Oregon, which made 36 of 69 shot attempts for the game (52.2 percent). Kario Oquendo, a transfer from Georgia, added 17 points for the Ducks.
An 11-2 run over the final 2 minutes, 26 seconds of the first half was the turning point for Alabama. Down 37-36 after Oregon led by as many as seven early in the game, the Crimson Tide got a layup and two free throws from Sears and five points from Griffen in that stretch.
Griffen’s layup 11 seconds before halftime gave Alabama its 47-39 halftime lead.
Couisnard kept the Ducks in the game, hitting all three of his 3-point attempts in the first half.
Alabama also had a 12-1 run midway through the first half. Sears had 13 of his points in the first 20 minutes.
Oregon stayed within striking distance for about nine minutes of the second half before Alabama pulled away for good. Estrada keyed a 9-0 run with a jumper to start it and a 3-pointer to finish it.
After Estrada’s 3-pointer, Alabama led 78-61 with 9:29 to play.
–Field Level Media
