March 6, 1998
ATLANTA (AP) – Jeff Sheppard and Nazr Mohammed keyed a late 13-4 run thatenabled defending Southeastern Conference tournament champion Kentucky tosurvive a scare and beat Alabama 82-71 Friday in a quarterfinals matchup.
No. 7 Kentucky, 27-4 under first-year coach Tubby Smith, has won thetournament five of the last six years. The Wildcats play the winner of Fridaynight’s contest between No. 16 Arkansas and Tennessee in the semifinalsSaturday at the Georgia Dome.
Sheppard led four Wildcats in double figures with 17 points – 13 in thesecond half. Mohammed had 10 of his 13 in the final 20 minutes. Scott Padgettadded 12 points, and freshman Michael Bradley had a career-high 10.
Alabama (15-16) had won five of its last six, including a 72-62 victory overVanderbilt on Thursday in the opening round.
The Tide took its first lead at 48-46 with 17:06 left on a basket byDemetrius Alexander, but the Wildcats recovered and launched their decisiverun.
Mohammed had six points, Sheppard four and Cameron Mills added a 3-pointbasket for the Wildcats, who have won 20 SEC tournament titles in 36 seasons.They beat Alabama for the 10th straight time – including 70-67 on Jan. 21 inthe only other meeting this season.
Alabama, led by a season-high 28 points from Brian Williams, never gotcloser than six points after the run.
Smith, who coached the previous two years at Georgia – winning 20 games inboth seasons – guided the Wildcats to the SEC regular-season title with a 14-2record after replacing Rick Pitino.
Unless Alabama gets an improbable bid to the National Invitation Tournament,it will have been the last game as coach for David Hobbs. At Alabama for sixyears, was fired Feb. 2, but allowed to finish the season.
Smith and Hobbs, who coached together for six years at VirginiaCommonwealth, shook hands and then hugged after the game.
Kentucky, which had built a 30-20 lead in the first half, led only 42-40 atthe break. Williams, Alabama’s leading scorer at 15.7 points per game, hit5-of-7 3’s and had 16 first-half points for the Crimson Tide. He wound up10-of-23 overall – 6-of-13 on 3-point attempts.
