NEWARK, N.J. — Alabama broke the 35-year-old NCAA Tournament record for 3-pointers with 25 and Mark Sears scored 30 of his 34 points on 3s, a relentless spree that ushered the second-seeded Crimson Tide past BYU 113-88 on Thursday night in an East Region semifinal.
Alabama reached the Elite Eight in consecutive years for the first time in program history.
The Crimson Tide made 25 of 51 3-point attempts to break the record of 21 set by Loyola Marymount in 1990. Sears, a first-team All-America guard, hit the record-breaking 22nd 3 late in the game to make it 97-66. He received a standing ovation from the Alabama fans when he checked out with 10 3s and more than four minutes left to play.
Sears and the Crimson Tide (28-8) showed they are no March fluke under coach Nate Oats. Riding a wave of 3s, Alabama set itself up for a date against Duke for a shot at the Final Four.
Richie Saunders scored 25 points to lead BYU (26-10), which hasn’t played in a regional final since 1981.
Sears’ 10 3s were one short of the record set by Loyola Marymount’s Jeff Fryer in a memorable 149-115 second-round win over Michigan.
The Crimson Tide made their first Final Four appearance in school history last season, when they lost to eventual national champion UConn.
Alabama loved the 3 this season, averaging 28 attempts per game. Against sixth-seeded BYU (24-9), Sears and the Crimson Tide feasted on the long ball.
Sears hit five in the first half, camping out behind the arc without much of a hand in his face. Sears and Chris Youngblood hit back-to-back 3s for a 38-30 lead and repeated the feat minutes later for a 44-34 advantage. BYU’s Egor Demin followed with an airball and Alabama could smell crimson in the water.
Alabama attempted 15 2-pointers and made 10 of them.
Sears raised his teammates out of their seats and into a frenzy when another 3 early in the second half for a 63-47 lead that sent the shaken Cougars into a timeout. The deep, up-tempo Crimson Tide let Sears bury 3 after 3 after 3 with the Elite Eight in sight.
Alabama continued the SEC’s run in the tournament and coasted in its third straight Sweet 16 appearance.
The shots dried up for BYU. Saunders, a descendant of the man who invented tater tots, had fueled BYU’s run to the Sweet 16. BYU was a bust trying match Alabama beyond the arc. The Cougars missed 12 of 13 3s in the first half.
The Cougars gamely pulled within striking distance only to get socked down by another Alabama 3. Demin hit a 3 that pulled BYU within 63-55, only for Aden Holloway to connect again beyond the arc for the Tide.
Holloway made six 3s and Youngblood five.
Duke 100, Arizona 93
Duke star Cooper Flagg put on a skills clinic and overcame an onslaught from Arizona and Caleb Love, finishing with 30 points, six rebounds, seven assists and three blocks in a 100-93 victory in Newark, N.J., that pulled the Blue Devils within one win of the Final Four.
Flagg, long over the balky ankle that sidelined him earlier this month, did enough to prevent Love, a thorn in Duke’s side for five years, from ruining another Blue Devils season.
Love finished with 35 points, one short of his career high, including a streak of 12 straight for his Wildcats (24-13) during a ferocious second-half run that cut a 19-point deficit to as little as five with 1:56 left.
But it’s the top-seeded Blue Devils (34-3) moving to the Elite Eight for the second straight season. On Saturday comes a 1-versus-2 showdown in the East Region, when coach Jon Scheyer’s team faces Alabama.
A win would put Duke in the Final Four for the 18th time. The last time, in 2022, Love played for North Carolina and scored 28 points to bring an end to legendary coach Mike Krzyzewski’s career.
This time, the 18-year-old Flagg ended Love’s stay in college, and showed why he should be the top pick in the NBA draft if he decides to leave too.
Texas Tech 85, Arkansas 83 (OT)
Darrion Williams scored the tiebreaking basket with 7.3 seconds left in overtime after tying the game with a 3-pointer in the closing seconds of regulation to lead Texas Tech to an 85-83 win over Arkansas in San Francisco.
The first overtime game of the NCAA Tournament came thanks to a furious comeback by the third-seeded Red Raiders (28-8) from 16 points down midway through the second half against coach John Calipari’s 10th-seeded Razorbacks (22-14).
Texas Tech advanced to play top-seeded Florida in the West Region final Saturday.
Florida 87, Maryland 71
Will Richard scored 15 points, Alijah Martin added 14 points and seven rebounds and top-seeded Florida played a steady second half to run away from No. 4 seed Maryland and into the West Region final with an 87-71 win Thursday night in San Francisco.
Walter Clayton Jr. contributed 13 points and four assists as Florida’s Big Three seniors and their deep supporting cast took down the Maryland “Crab Five” starters — one of Terrapins coach Kevin Willard’s concerns coming into the matchup.
Freshman sensation Derik Queen scored 27 points to lead Maryland (27-9) in what might have been Willard’s final game guiding the program. He has been linked to the opening at Villanova.
Florida (33-4) advanced to play Saturday against third-seeded Texas Tech.
The Gators, in the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2017 and seeking the program’s first Final Four berth since 2014, committed 13 of their 17 turnovers in the first half but took better care of the ball over the final 20 minutes. Florida already eliminated two-time defending champion UConn in the second round and is 10-1 in regional semifinals.
