Alabama scrapes past Grand Canyon 72-61 in frantic NCAA Tournament game at the Arena

With exhaustion painted on his face, Alabama guard Mark Sears breathed a sigh of relief, then grinned as he made a shushing motion and waved goodbye to a large contingent of Grand Canyon fans.

With about a minute remaining, Sears and his Crimson Tide team had finally put the Antelopes away, and quieted GCU’s blaring crowd.

Fourth-seeded Alabama had to exert itself to deny GCU’s upset bid. Sears and the Tide couldn’t relax until the waning moments of Sunday’s second-round NCAA Tournament game at the Arena.

Sears certainly earned some rest – and the right to talk a little trash to a sold-out crowd that seemed to favor the underdogs. The All-American played all but one minute and scored 26 points to lead Alabama, which went on a late scoring run to sweat out a 72-61 victory over the 12th-seeded Antelopes.

“We could have folded,” Alabama coach Nate Oats said. “We pulled it together and showed a lot of mental toughness.”

Alabama (23-11) closed on a 10-0 run over the final four minutes after Grand Canyon (30-5) had taken the lead with about six minutes remaining . It was the Lopes’ first lead since early in the first half, but GCU stayed at Alabama’s heels throughout the second half.

“That (arena) got loud when they got the lead, then our guys just hung in there and got stops,” Oats said.

Alabama, which leads the nation in scoring offense, had its second-lowest point total of the season. But the Tide’s defense, which has been unreliable this season, had a sharp game.

“This might have been our best defensive performance of the year,” Oats said.

GCU shot 32% from the field and 2 for 20 on 3-point attempts but stayed alive from the foul line, shooting 23 of 37. There were 48 total fouls called in what was a choppy and at times frantically paced game.

Alabama shot 37% from the floor and 8 of 31 (25.8%) from deep.

Sears went 8 of 18, and contributed 12 rebounds and six assists.

“He played so much that he was cramping there at the end,” Oats said of Sears. “I didn’t feel like I could take him out much with (starting guard Latrell Wrightsell Jr.) not available in the second half (due to a head injury suffered in the first period).”

Guard Rylan Griffen added 13 points for Alabama. Backup forward Mouhamed Dioubate, who averages eight minutes per game, was pivotal down the stretch. He scored all nine of his points in the final six minutes.

“He won us the game in the last five minutes,” Sears said of Dioubate.

Star guard Tyon Grant-Foster paced GCU with 29 points on 9 of 22 shooting. He spearheaded a Lopes rally early in the second half after Alabama went up 38-30 at the break.

“They survived out there. They fought out there,” GCU coach Bryce Drew said. “I’m just so proud of their effort and all they gave for us tonight and all season.”