STARKVILLE, Miss. -- For the first time in 45 years, Alabama is the SEC champion in football and men's basketball.
Jaden Shackelford scored 10 of his 15 points in the second half, and No. 6 Alabama beat Mississippi State 64-59 on Saturday night to clinch its first SEC regular-season championship since 2002.
The men's basketball crown comes just two months after the powerhouse Crimson Tide football team claimed the conference title on the way to winning the national championship. It's the first time both programs won titles in the same academic year since 1975-76, and ending a 19-year drought in basketball was cause for celebration.
"I went in there and they dumped a bunch of water on me," Alabama Coach Nate Oats said. "They were already celebrating before we got off the floor. They were fired up about it, they knew what was at stake. It's big. It doesn't happen very often."
Alabama (19-6, 14-2) led by double digits for much of the game, but the Bulldogs (13-12, 7-9) closed to 56-53 on Iverson Molinar's layup with 4:17 left. Mississippi State had a chance to draw even closer over the next three minutes, but Alabama came up with a couple of big stops and James Rojas drained a three-pointer from the right corner to make it 59-53 with 43 seconds left.
D.J. Stewart made four free throws for MSU in the final minute, but Alabama went 5 for 6 at the line down the stretch, including two successful attempts for John Petty with 11.9 seconds to go. Alabama held on despite shooting just 32%, including 25% from beyond the arc.
Jahvon Quinerly had 19 points for Alabama, including 15 before halftime. Herbert Jones grabbed 14 rebounds, helping Alabama to a 45-40 advantage on the glass.
Stewart scored 15 points for the Bulldogs, who had won their past two games. Deivon Smith had 12 points and 13 rebounds, and Molinar scored 11 points.
AUBURN 77,
NO. 25 TENNESSEE 72
AUBURN, Ala. -- Allen Flanigan (Little Rock Parkview) scored a season-high 23 points and had seven rebounds to lead Auburn to a victory over No. 25 Tennessee.
The Tigers (12-13, 6-10) snapped a three-game losing streak even without freshman point guard Sharife Cooper, out for the second consecutive game with a left ankle injury.
They had five players score 10 or more points against the Volunteers (16-7, 9-7).
Devan Cambridge matched his season-high with 15 points and Jamal Johnson scored 14 for the Tigers.
Keon Johnson led the Vols with 23 points and Jaden Springer scored 20 to go along with 6 assists and 5 rebounds.
VANDERBILT 75, MISSISSIPPI 70
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Trey Thomas scored 14 points, Clevon Brown made two free throws with 10.4 seconds left for a two-possession lead and short-handed Vanderbilt beat Mississippi to snap a three-game losing streak.
Vanderbilt (7-13, 3-11) was without its top two leading scorers in Scotty Pippen Jr. and Dylan Disu, who combine for 35.5 points per game. Despite that, the Commodores' bench outscored Ole Miss 39-4.
Issac McBride (Baptist Prep) and Maxwell Evans each added 13 points for Vanderbilt.
Devontae Shuler scored 25 points for Mississippi (13-10, 8-8).
FLORIDA 71, KENTUCKY 67
LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Tre Mann scored 14 of his 21 points in the second half and Florida pulled out a victory over Kentucky.
Tyree Appleby's wide-open three-pointer with 31/2 minutes remaining put the Gators (13-6, 9-5) ahead for good at 65-63 in a game that had 14 lead changes and nine ties, the vast majority coming in the second half when neither team led by more than four. Neither team scored again until Mann's baseline jumper with 1:49 to go. The Wildcats (8-14, 7-8) cut the lead to two twice after that but two free throws by Mann with 10.5 seconds remaining sealed the win.
Colin Castleton scored 14 points, Appleby (Jacksonville) added 11 and Anthony Duruji 10 for Florida.
SOUTH CAROLINA 91,
GEORGIA 70
ATHENS, Ga. -- Jermaine Cousinard scored a season-high 23 points and South Carolina snapped a six-game losing streak with a victory over Georgia.
Cousinard came in averaging 9.3 points per game but made 8 of 16 shots, including 4 of 8 from the arc, in leading the Gamecocks (6-12, 4-10) to a season sweep of Georgia (14-10, 7-10). The Gamecocks have defeated the Bulldogs 10 consecutive times.
P.J. Horne scored 17 points, Justin Kier added 16, and Toumani Camara and Andrew Garcia 10 each for Georgia.
