Cooper’s Putback Lifts Alabama Over Auburn

Rodney Cooper wasn’t expecting the ball to end up in his hands, but he made the most of it when it did.

Cooper put back a Levi Randolph miss with 5.8 seconds left to give Alabama an emphatic 57-55 win over Auburn in front of a sellout crowd at Coleman Coliseum Saturday night.

“My assistant coaches always tell me to crash the glass,” Cooper said. “I just took the ball (and put it in).”

After a timeout with 4.7 seconds left, Auburn’s Tahj Shamsid-Deen lost control of the ball and could only muster a desperation shot that missed badly as time expired.

“We didn't get the screen set (for Tahj)," Auburn coach Bill Pearl said. "There was too much time between when Tahj got the ball and the screen. We didn't get it done.”

The Crimson Tide (13-6, 3-3 Southeastern Conference) trailed for over 15 minutes in the second half and by as many as nine points, but things seemed to shift in its favor after Ricky Tarrant’s second technical foul led to an automatic disqualification with 8:11 left to play.

From there, Alabama outscored the Tigers 18-8 down the stretch after Auburn (10-9, 2-4 SEC) led 47-39.

“I thought our guys really rallied from that point forward," Grant said. "I'm very happy for Ricky. He was obviously very emotional when that happened, after the game emotional again. I think his teammates really stepped up in his absence and did a great job tonight. A really gritty, gritty win.”

Randolph led the way for Alabama during the Crimson Tide's second-half run, scoring 11 of his team-high 18 points, including seven in the final 2:13, before inadvertently setting up Cooper’s game-winning shot on the team’s final possession.

“I just wanted to try to be aggressive,” Randolph said. “Coach was making calls, Justin (Coleman), he was making calls for me. My teammates, they were just able to put me in a good situation.”

The win snaps a three-game losing streak for Alabama in conference play, which, coincidentally, lost on a last-second put back at the buzzer in its last game, a 93-91 loss in overtime at Arkansas.

“That’s basketball,” Grant said.

Alabama led 25-23 at the half, but neither team could find rhythm offensively during the first intermission. Both shot under 40 percent from the field in that period.

K.T. Harrell led Auburn with a game-high 22 points. Cinmeon Bowers and Antoine Mason scored 14 and 13, respectively. Auburn has lost three out of its last four games.

Alabama hosts Florida on Tuesday before hitting the road to play Kentucky next Saturday.