NCAA TOURNAMENT • Spokane: Sears, Dioubate lead Alabama past upstart GCU, into Sweet 16

By MARK NELKE

Sports editor

SPOKANE — Alabama point guard Mark Sears is generously listed at 6-foot-1.

But for the second time in three nights, he came up big for the Crimson Tide in the NCAA tournament.

Sears totaled 26 points, 12 rebounds, six assists and three steals as fourth-seeded Alabama pulled away late to subdue 12th-seeded Grand Canyon 72-61 in a second-round game Sunday at the Spokane Arena.

“Sears wasn’t letting us lose tonight,” Alabama coach Nate Oats said. “This was as good a defensive game as Mark has played. He was cramping at the end, but I didn’t feel I could take him out.”

Alabama (23-11) advances to play No. 1 seed North Carolina (29-7) in a West Region semifinal Thursday in Los Angeles. The Tide is in the Sweet 16 for the second straight year, third time in four years and 10th time overall.

For all that Sears did for Alabama — and he did a lot — the Tide might not be headed to L.A. without the late-game heroics of Mouhamed Dioubate. The 6-7 freshman forward, who came in averaging 3.0 points per game in 8 minutes of playing time, scored all nine of his points in the final 5:21, and also had five rebounds (all offensive) and two blocked shots in 12 minutes of playing time. 

“He won us the game the last five minutes,” Sears said. “We don’t win that game without him.”

Grand Canyon trailed 62-61 with 4:05 left, then didn’t score again as Alabama closed on a 10-0 run.

“I just had to play as hard as I can, and let my defense contribute to offense,” Dioubate said.

With Jarin Stevenson fouled out, and Rylan Griffen playing with four fouls, Oats put Dioubate in to guard Grand Canyon’s Tyon Grant-Foster, who finished with 29 points in 9-of-22 shooting.

“Dioubate did a great job late,” Oats said. “We needed a boost, and he did great. We knew we needed some tough plays, so let’s put a guy in that can make some tough plays.”

Again, Grand Canyon (30-5), with its boisterous fans, had the home crowd advantage. But that wasn’t enough to make up for a rough shooting night. Facing a much more athletic defense than they did Thursday night in a win over Saint Mary’s, the Antelopes finished 18 of 56 from the field.

“They had a great crowd, but the game is played on the floor,” Griffen said. 

No one else had more than eight points for Grand Canyon, coming off its first NCAA tourney win in school history Friday night. Aside from Grant-Foster, the other ‘Lopes were 9 of 34 from the floor.

Grant-Foster also had eight rebounds, but he’ll bemoan his seven missed free throws, as GCU was 23 of 37 from the line, making more free throws than Alabama (16 of 22) attempted.

“Unfortunately, the ball didn’t bounce our way at the end, and they got the better of us,” GCU forward Gabe McGlothan said.

The first half was choppy, to say the least.

At one point in the first half, the teams combined to miss 15 straight shots.

In the first eight minutes, there were more combined blocked shots (7) than field goals made (4).

Grand Canyon shot just 9 of 31 from the field for the half but was within arm’s reach because of getting to the line more (10 of 18 on free throws, vs. 7 of 10 for Alabama).

Alabama, which missed 13 straight shots and was 1 of 16 from the floor in one stretch, hit its last seven shots and closed with a 10-2 run over the final 2:51 to lead 38-30 at halftime.

The Tide finished the half 13 of 34 from the field.

Grand Canyon trailed for much of the game. Grant-Foster, who scored 17 points in the second half, tied it at 55 with 6:45 remaining, and the Antelopes took a 58-55 lead a short time later. But Dioubate’s three-point play put Alabama back up 60-58, he scored inside moments later, and the Tide never trailed again.

“The shift came when we were up three, and they had a five-point possession where they got two offensive rebounds,” Oats said. “If we rebound better the last five minutes, I think it goes differently.”

Plus Sears did a little of everything throughout the game, finding the slimmest of space to get to the basket for driving layins, and when there were shot blockers waiting, he dumped off to teammates for dunks.

“Credit Sears, he willed them to win,” Drew said. “Especially those last five minutes.”

Alabama’s Latrell Wrightsell Jr., who left the game in the first half when he took an elbow to the head while contesting a 3-pointer, is expected to play Thursday, Oats said.