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GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) -- Mo Williams regrouped from the
disappointment of his last game and saved the day for Alabama.
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Maurice Williams, one of my super-seven diaper dandies, really responded big-time, scoring 33 points to meet the challenge of a hungry Cinderella Florida Atlantic team.
The Owls, coached by former UNLV All-American Sidney Green, won just two games three years ago. Now Florida Atlantic was in the big dance and actually led at halftime 40-38 before Williams rallied the Tide back.
Mark Gottfried has to be a little concerned as Rod Grizzard only scored six points for the Tide. If Alabama is going to respond against Kent State in the second round, it needs a better performance out of Grizzard. But in the first round, the freshman Williams was the star of stars as Alabama moves on.
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The 6-foot-1 guard scored a career-high 33 points, grabbed 10
rebounds and had six assists Thursday as the Southeastern
Conference regular-season champions survived a scare and beat
Florida Atlantic 86-78 in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
Williams, the SEC freshman of the year, missed a 3-pointer that
could have beat Mississippi State in the conference tourney final
last weekend. But his performance against FAU more than made up for
the disappointment.
"Mo stepped right into practice yesterday and went as hard as
he could. Then he came out today and showed what kind of player he
is," Alabama coach Mark Gottfried said.
"He was really feeling it. He was in a groove," Florida
Atlantic's Jeff Cowans said. "We really didn't expect that from a
freshman, but he sure showed leadership."
Williams made 9 of 13 shots and went 12-for-13 from the foul
line, picking up the slack with Alabama's top scorers -- Erwin
Dudley and Rod Grizzard -- struggling.
Grizzard was scoreless until his 3-pointer put Alabama ahead
64-61 with just over 8 minutes to go. The 6-foot-8 guard made
another 3-pointer to start the 10-0 run that broke the game open.
Dudley, the SEC player of the year, finished with 15 points and
nine rebounds. Grizzard was limited to six points on 2-for-8
shooting.
"Anybody watching the game could see the way we were playing.
In the first half, we tried to pick ourselves up in the huddle, but
it just wasn't there," said Williams, adding that the Crimson Tide
never panicked.
"Once you play 19 games in the SEC, I don't think anything gets
you nervous. It's the best conference in the country."
Alabama (27-7) advanced to a second-round matchup against Kent
State, a 69-61 first-round winner over Oklahoma State.
Florida Atlantic, trying to become just the fifth No. 15 seed to
knock off a No. 2, matched the heavily favored Crimson Tide basket
for basket for nearly 33 minutes.
Earnest Crumbley led the Owls (19-12) with 18 points, and Raheim
Brown had 15 points and 10 rebounds.
"You've got to credit Alabama," said FAU coach Sidney Green,
the former UNLV star and one-time NBA player. "They had a response
for everything we threw at them."
Alabama was left out of the NCAA field last season despite
winning 25 games, the victim of a weak schedule. The Crimson Tide
beefed up their non-conference slate and used what they still
perceive as a slight as motivation to tear through the SEC this
year.
The No. 2 seeding equals the best ever for Alabama, which also
was a No. 2 seed in 1987 when Gottfried was a senior on a team that
won a school-record 28 games.
The Crimson Tide can match that mark by beating Kent State
(28-9), which extended its winning streak to 19 with its upset of
Oklahoma State.
FAU made the field of 65 for the first time by winning the
Atlantic Sun Conference tournament, capping a dramatic turnaround
from a 2-28 finish just two years ago _ Green's first at the Boca
Raton, Fla., college that hopes it has forever shed the moniker of
F-A-Who?
The Owls insisted they wouldn't be intimidated by Alabama's
reputation, playing on national television or before a crowd five
or six times larger than norm for one of their games.
They stormed back from a 30-19 deficit to lead 40-38 at the
half, and Green and his players weren't satisfied with merely
playing Alabama tough.
"Moral victories aren't really a payoff for me," Brown said,
breaking down as Green comforted him. "I'm really hurt now. I
can't even talk."
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