Tide Drown Scarlet Knights; Advance to Players Era Championship

The No. 9 Alabama Crimson Tide held off a red-hot Dylan Harper to win game two of their Las Vegas trip, taking down the Rutgers Scarlet Knights 95-90.

"That's a good team," said Nate Oats, "they're talented. We didn't play our best, but got to give them a lot of credit."

Nate Oats also commented on the Crimson Tide defense, which has allowed 80+ points in the last four games for the Tide, "We've got to figure our defense out. We're not where we need to be defensively."

Mark Sears and Mouhamed Dioubate once again had strong nights for Alabama. Sears led the way in scoring, recording 24 points and five assists while sinking three threes.

Dioubate once again lived up to Nate Oats' mantra of "Blue Collar Basketball," snagging nine rebounds, five of which were offensive boards, two blocks, and two steals, while playing lockdown defense on two of the best freshmen in the nation.

Dioubate also tacked on ten points.

Grant Nelson was also stellar for the Crimson Tide this evening, dropping 17 points and nine rebounds.

Despite the loss, Rutgers' electric freshmen duo of Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper shined once again, combining for 59 points, 65.5% of the Scarlet Knights' offensive output.

The game started off quickly. The Scarlet Knights won the tip, and Dylan Harper immediately split the lane for a layup, handing Rutgers a quick 2-0 advantage within the first five seconds of the game.

The Scarlet Knights would maintain the lead or a tie until the 11:19 mark in the first half, where Grant Nelson would push the Tide ahead 15-13 with a layup.

Alabama would push the lead to 19-13 via a three from Aiden Sherell and a couple of Grant Nelson free throws.

The Scarlet Knights would fight back, as they would do all night, snagging a one-point, 23-22 advantage with 7:51 left in the first half.

The two squads would continue to duke it out for the remainder of the period, eventually heading into the locker room back where they started twenty minutes prior, all tied up at 41-a-piece.

A seemingly inescapable sight tonight, Harper started off the second half with a strong layup in traffic to hand the Scarlet Knights a 43-41 lead.

Alabama would respond quickly with two three-pointers, one from Jarin Stevenson and the other from Mark Sears.

The two squads would continue to go back and forth, with what seemed like a chess match between Mark Sears and Dylan Harper.

The Crimson Tide would seem to take control of the game, reaching a nine-point lead as late as the 5:22 mark in the second half.

However, with Mark Sears being glued to the bench with four fouls to his name, Steve Pikiell and the Scarlet Knights would take advantage, eventually cutting the Crimson Tide lead to one with 2:23 to go in the game via a Dylan Harper layup.

The Crimson Tide could hold off Rutgers down the stretch thanks to scrappy defense and dominating the glass.

Two late Grant Nelson free throws would seal Rutgers' fate, handing Alabama a 95-90 victory and a trip to the Players Era Festival title game.

The Crimson Tide will take a two-day breather before taking on the Oregon Ducks on Saturday at 8:30 p.m. CT for the Players Era Festival title with 1.5 million dollars on the line.

For more Alabama Baseball, Basketball, and Football content from Simon Besnoy, follow him on X/Twitter at @SimonBesnoy and stay tuned to Tide1009.com for daily news.