Louisiana State Tigers vs Alabama Crimson Tide Match Player Stats On Mar 14, 2021

Trendon Watford and Aundre Hyatt each missed shots in the closing seconds as Alabama survived to beat LSU 80-79 on Sunday afternoon in the Southeastern Conference tournament championship in Nashville, Tenn.

Watford scored a game-high 30 points for third-seeded LSU (18-9), which came up painfully short of its first SEC tournament crown since 1980, after his 3-point shot was an airball and Hyatt's put-back attempt rimmed out as time expired.

Jaden Shackelford scored 21 points and Keon Ellis had 14 points and a key block on Javonte Smart's go-ahead layup attempt with 7.3 seconds left to help Alabama (24-6) survive.

The sixth-ranked and top-seeded Crimson Tide won their first tournament title since 1991 and secured both it and the SEC regular-season title in the same season for the first time since 1987.

The teams went back and forth down the stretch in a game that had 16 lead changes and five ties.

Smart hit a pair of 3-pointers to give LSU a 77-76 lead with 1:16 left before Shackelford answered with a runner at the other end with 52 seconds to go.

Watford then drove, scored and drew a foul with 27.6 left giving LSU the lead back. But Watford missed his free throw.

Alabama's Herbert Jones, who finished with 13 points, 11 rebounds and six assists, gave the Tide the decisive points with his layup with 19.5 seconds remaining.

Jahvon Quinerly finished with 14 points to lead Alabama's bench, which again played a huge role. The Crimson Tide's reserves outscored LSU's bench 28-0 and scored 107 points over the three games of the tournament.

Alabama shot 12-for-36 (33.3 percent) from 3-point range and 33-for-76 (43.4 percent) overall while outrebounding the Tigers 50-43 and 19-16 on the offensive glass.

Smart finished with 21 points, seven rebounds and five assists. Cameron Thomas scored 18 points for LSU, which was playing in its first SEC title game since 1993. Darius Days also had 12 rebounds, while Hyatt finished with eight points and eight rebounds.

--Field Level Media