Brandon Miller had 23 points and 12 rebounds as No. 4 Alabama cruised to its second Southeastern Conference tournament title in the past three years with an 82-63 victory over No. 18 Texas A&M on Sunday in Nashville, Tenn.
Miller, the SEC’s Player and Freshman of the Year, added four assists and three steals, while Jahvon Quinerly had 22 points for the top-seeded Crimson Tide (29-5), the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Charles Bediako finished with 12 points, 13 rebounds and five blocks for Alabama, which won for the seventh time in its past eight games. Noah Clowney chipped in nine points and 11 rebounds.
The Crimson Tide shot 27 of 66 (40.9 percent) from the field, including 12 of 36 (33.3 percent) from 3-point range. Alabama outrebounded the Aggies 50-37.
Second-seeded Texas A&M (25-9), which saw its four-game winning streak end, was led by Dexter Dennis’ 14 points and five rebounds. The Aggies are a No. 7 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Wade Taylor IV scored 11 of his 13 points in the second half and Tyrece Radford had 12 points for the Aggies, who fell in the SEC tournament title game for the second straight year. They lost 65-50 to Tennessee in last year’s final.
Texas A&M shot 19 of 64 (29.7 percent) from the field, including 5 of 15 (33.3 percent) from beyond the arc.
After Texas A&M pulled to within 58-48 with 9:02 left, Alabama put the game away with an 11-0 run following Rylan Griffen’s 3-pointer with 6:02 remaining.
Alabama dominated from the outset, jumping out to a 16-7 lead in less than five minutes before taking a 34-23 halftime advantage.
The Crimson Tide suffocated the Aggies, forcing them to miss 12 of their first 17 shots before holding them to just one field goal in the final 11:06 of the first half.
Quinerly scored 13 points and Miller had eight in the first 20 minutes for Alabama.
Texas A&M was led by Dennis and Julius Marble, who had six and five first-half points, respectively.
–Field Level Media
