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  • Mark Sears Becomes The 82nd NCAA Player To Eclipse 2,500 Points As Bama Beats Vanderbilt

Mark Sears Becomes The 82nd NCAA Player To Eclipse 2,500 Points As Bama Beats Vanderbilt

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Basketball

Mark Sears became the 82nd player in Division I history to eclipse 2,500 career points as the No. 4/3 Alabama men's basketball team defeated Vanderbilt, 103-87, Tuesday night in Coleman Coliseum.

Sears entered the contest with 2,491 points over his five-year career and quickly reached the 2,500-point mark with his 10 first-half points. He went on to finish with 21 points to go along with seven assists without a turnover. 

In addition to Sears, Mouhamed Dioubate led Alabama (16-3, 5-1 SEC) as he recorded his second double-double of the year with a career-high 22 points and 10 rebounds. Aden Holloway added 22 points off the bench to give the Tide three with 20 or more points in the victory. 

The Commodores (15-4, 3-3 SEC) were led by Jason Edwards' 21 points on 8-of-20 shooting.

Head Coach Nate Oats Postgame Comments 
"Solid win over an improved Vanderbilt team. I thought our defense in the first half was pretty good, but it completely fell apart in the second half, which is a little bit disappointing for a team that's trying to go after a championship. We've got to be a lot better than that in the second half to give up 56 points, but you have to give Vandy a lot of credit for hanging in there and fighting. 

Offensively, we did enough, but we didn't shoot free throws as well as we would've liked. It was a huge game for Mouhamed Dioubate because there have only been five players since I've been here to get 22 points and 10 rebounds in a game, so he put himself in pretty elite company. I think Mo plays hard all the time, as evidenced by his plus/minus (+21 at Kentucky, +26 vs. Vanderbilt), so you kind of know what you're going to get out of him. He's gonna play hard, he's gonna be physical. He was our best matchup on their point guard (Jason Edwards) who had 21 points but Dioubate did a pretty good job on him."

Team Stats 

  • Alabama eclipsed the 100-point mark for the second consecutive contest, the sixth time this season and the 16th time since last season which leads Division I in the category
  • The Tide finished the game with 52 bench points – 44 of those coming from Aden Holloway and Mouhamed Dioubate – and outscored the Commodores by 30 in the category (52-22)
  • UA controlled the paint, owning a 44-39 advantage on the glass while outscoring Vandy 54-34 inside the paint
  • The Tide shot 56 percent (36-of-64) from the field, 36 percent (8-of-22) from deep and 68 percent (23-of-34) from the charity stripe
  • In addition to posting a career-high 22 points on 8-of-9 shooting, Dioubate led the Tide with a plus-minus of +26 across his 23 minutes of action
  • Tuesday marked the fourth time during head coach Nate Oats' tenure that three players scored at least 20 points in the same game
  • Grant Nelson (10) and Jarin Stevenson (10) also reached double figure scoring

First Half  

  • Vanderbilt scored on its first possession and quickly jumped out to a 7-2 lead before the 17:29 mark
  • Alabama responded with a 20-4 run over seven minutes to take a 22-11 lead
  • During that stretch, the Crimson Tide made 7-of-11 field goal attempts while limiting the Commodores to just 2-of-12 shooting
  • Alabama stretched its lead to 19 points before taking a 48-31 advantage into the locker room
  • The Tide made 14-of-20 field goal attempts over the last 14 minutes of the half, while Vanderbilt shot 8-of-24 over that span
  • Mark Sears' layup with 8:20 to play in the opening stanza put him over 2,500 points for his collegiate career to become the 82nd player in NCAA Division I history to achieve the feat
  • Aden Holloway was on fire in the first half, scoring a game-leading 16 points on 6-of-6 shooting (2-of-2 from deep)

Second Half  

  • Vanderbilt outscored the Crimson Tide 14-7 to open the second half, pulling within 10 points with 15:47 to play
  • The Tide responded with a 12-0 run over the next 3:25 to take its largest lead of the contest at 22 points (67-45) with 12:22 left to play
  • Vanderbilt found its shooting stride in the half, connecting on 10-of-19 three-pointers to slowly chip away at the deficit, pulling within eight points with 2:54 to play
  • The Tide went on a 12-4 run over the final 2:45 to put the game out of reach

Up Next 

  • Alabama will close out this week's homestand on Saturday against LSU at Coleman Coliseum   
  • Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m. CT and will be televised on the SEC Network