Mercer stuns Alabama, 72-69, in season opener

Mercer — a team that lost to Georgia College in exhibition play two weeks ago — waltzed into Coleman Coliseum on Sunday and walked away with a 72-69 victory over the Crimson Tide, scoring the game's last four points in a wild final few seconds. Calvin Henry's running lay-in put the Bears up by one with 13 seconds remaining, and James Florence's free throws salted it away with 12.3 to play.

"First of all, first and foremost, this sits squarely on my shoulders," Alabama coach Mark Gottfried said. "It's my responsibility to have our team playing better. We've got a lot of things to work on."

Alabama's loss was its first in a season home-opener since 1993-94, when it lost 67-57 to UT-Chattanooga. That Crimson Tide team rallied to win 20 times and earn an NCAA tournament bid, something that seems ever so far away all of a sudden for this year's squad.

Alabama (0-1) shot just 36.4 percent from the floor, and only 7-for-28 from 3-point distance. The Bears (2-0) out-rebounded the Crimson Tide 56-38, including 24-15 on the offensive glass.

"Our guys just found a way to persevere," Mercer coach Bob Hoffman said. "They kept coming at us. ... We were trying to win every four-minute timeout. And I think we won all but one today."

Even so, Alabama very nearly rallied to win behind the play of a resurgent Ronald Steele. The Crimson Tide point guard, who sat out all of last after knee surgery, scored 10 straight Alabama points at one stretch, and gave his team a two-point lead at 67-65 when he hit three free throws with 1:43 to play.

Steele ended the night with 25 points, four off his career high. But all he was thinking about was the potential game-tying 3-pointer he missed with two seconds remaining.

"That's a shot I have to make," Steele said. "I feel bad about missing that. The guys got me a great look. But it's just something I've got to improve on and get better."

Said Gottfried, "Ron was sensational. I think more than anything was his competitive spirit. That was shining bright tonight. But we can't rely on Ron Steele to make every play. We've got other guys that need to step up and play better."

After Steele's three free throws gave Alabama the lead, Mercer scored three quick points to take a one-point advantage at 68-67 with one minute remaining, then Gee hit a short jumper — off an assist by Steele with 33 seconds remaining.

Mercer called time out with 27.5 seconds to play, setting up its game-winning play with James Florence — who led the Bears with 23 points — dishing off to Henry in the paint. After Henry's shot went in, Florence was able to get back on defense quickly enough to snag JaMychal Green's long — and perhaps ill-advised — outlet pass and force Alabama to foul.

Florence then made both free throws to put the Bears up three. Steele had an open look from the top of the key but couldn't connect, and Alabama had to watch stunned as Mercer celebrated.

"We're going to get better," Gottfried said. "It's one game — obviously not the way we wanted to start. But now the question is, how will we respond?"

Green played a solid all-around game for Alabama with 17 points and 12 rebounds, though he made only three of nine free throws. Mikhail Torrance added 10 points in 19 minutes off the bench.

But the Crimson Tide got virtual no offensive production from three of its top four guards. Gee, Senario Hillman and Brandon Hollinger combined to score only nine points on 4-for-25 shooting.

Alabama is back in action Wednesday at home against Florida A&M.