2006 SEC Tournament
Day 2 -Quarter-Finals
Kentucky 68 vs. Alabama 61
”Wildcats” fight back to upend Alabama
Gaylord Entertainment Center - Nashville, TN
In clearly the most exciting game of the 2006 SEC Tournament the Kentucky “Wildcats” and the “Crimson Tide” of Alabama went toe-to-toe in front of a packed house of crazed basketball fans for the entire 40 minutes of action before Head Coach Tubby Smith and his “Wildcats” broke the hearts of Head Coach Mark Gottfried and the “Crimson Tide”.
This game featured a match-up between two former local area high school All-Americans in Kentucky’s 6-10 So.-Randolph Morris a former Landmark Christian Academy star (AAU – Atlanta Celtics) and Alabama’s 6-10 Jr.-Jermareo Davidson a former Wheeler/Stone Mtn/Tri-Cities star (AAU – World Wide Renegades). Alabama also starts former Roswell High School star 6-8 Sr.-Evan Brock.
The atmosphere in the Gayland Center was like that of a NCAA Championship Game; it really was so loud you could hardly hear yourself think. Alabama drew first blood when former Mc Donald’s All-American 6-8 Fr.-Richard Hendrix scored on a lay-up. A few moments later Kentucky took a 5-4 lead as 6-4 So.-Joe Crawford knocked down a three-pointer.
Alabama’s Jermareo Davidson has always had a bunch of energy packed into his game and to say he was jacked for this match-up was an understatement. The 6-10 junior came out early and dominated the play; throwing down a dunk, sticking a jumper and he hit 1 of 2 free-throws to give the “Tide”a 9-6 lead.
Coach Gottfried had his team well prepared for this one; ith 6-3 So.-Ronald Steele running the point Alabama was able to keep the game at their pace. Davidson still feeling it stuck another jumper to increase the lead to 13-6 with 9:50 to play in the half.
Kentucky’s Randolph Morris is just the opposite of Davidson, he has never been one of those players that shows a lot of emotion which gives people the sense that he doesn’t have a passion to want to dominate the game and just like in the “Wildcats” 1st round game he picked up 2 quick fouls and had to take a seat on the bench (but “Wildcat” fans know what happened when he returned to action in that game).
There was a stretch in the 1st half where Alabama held a 10-point lead and had a chance to really put the screws to the “Wildcats” but they let Tubby’s team hang around and you know what that means. The Kentucky bench played a big role in this game; a three-pointer by reserve 6-8 Jr.-Rekalin Sims cut the lead to 20-13 with 4:52 on the clock.
Then the biggest reserve of them all Kentucky’s 7-3 Jr.-Shagari Alleyne entered the game and played like he had just drank a bottle of “KRUNK JUICE”. In one series the Bronx, N.Y. native blocked 3 straight shot attempts then made his way down court and dunked as the “Wildcats” fans went absolutely crazy. The dunk cut the lead to 22-17 with 2:59 left in the half and it started changing the slow of the game.
Crawford cut the lead to 1 when he drilled another three-pointer. With time running out in the half 6-1 So.-Rajon Rondo stole the ball, got it over to 5-9 Sr.-Brandon Stockton who lobbed a pass to Alleyne, who finished off the Kentucky comeback with a dunk heard around the “Blue Grass” state as the “Wildcats” took a 23-22 halftime lead.
The action picked right up as the 2nd half got underway, Steele hit a three-pointer and 2 free-throws for Alabama to tie the game at 29-29. Alabama got back to what was successful for them in the 1st half, a 10-point spurt lead by 6-6 Fr.-Alonzo Gee, who scored 7 of those points gave the “Tide” a 41-31 lead.
Once again it looked like Alabama was going to start pulling away but when they other team has the word KENTUCKY written across their chest you can’t just totally count them out. Morris hit a jumper to jump start the “Wildcats” and then the “Bomb Squad” took over; Sims, 6-0 Sr.-Patrick Sparks and Crawford all hit three-pointers to cut the lead to 48-45 with 8:49 to play.
With the crowd all hyped the action starting getting real intense, with players diving for loose balls and fighting each other for rebounding position….oh, it was a battle for real. Alabama remained calm in the face of the “Wildcats” pressure, Davidson hit a jumper and Gee knocked down another three-ball to push the lead to 55-45.
With 6:47 to play the “Beast” in Morris woke up, just like it did against Ole Miss; first he hit a short jumper, then stole the ball that lead to a basket by 6-6 Jr.-Bobby Perry. His blocked shot and rebound led to a Sparks 3 pointer as Kentucky cut the lead to 58-54.
With 2:06 to play Morris was fouled and stepped to the line and calmly hit both free-throws to tie the game at 61-61. A minute later Kentucky took the lead on a lay-up by Perry.
After fighting so hard the entire game you could see the air start gushing out of the Alabama balloon; they went the last 3:00 minutes of the game without a basket. Down the stretch the “Wildcats” hit their free-throws and came away with an exciting 68-61 win, they now move on to the semi-finals against a hot South Carolina team.
Scoring Recap
Kentucky:
Patrick Sparks scored 14 points to lead 4 Kentucky players who scored double-figures. Backcourt mate Rajon Rondo finished with 13 points and 4 assists. Bobby Perry also scored 13 points and grabbed a team high 9-rebounds. Randolph Morris finished with 11 points, 7 rebounds and 2 blocked shots.
Alabama:
Alonzo Gee scored a game high 18 points and hauled down 8 rebounds. Jermareo Davidson finished with 15 points and a game high 19 rebounds. Ronald Steele added 13 points and handed out 5 assists. Jean Felix chipped in with 7 points and 8 rebounds.
