– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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NEWARK, NEW JERSEY — Like some of the great New Jersey-based singing artists like Whitney Houston, Bruce Springsteen and Jon Bon Jovi, Alabama guard Aden Holloway has also been going on a tour, but it had nothing to do with carrying a tune. It’s a redemption tour, and Holloway, along with backcourt mate Mark Sears, played all the hits upon touching down in the Garden State on Friday.
Holloway and Sears combined to make 16 of Alabama’s NCAA Tournament-record 25 three-pointers as the No. 2 seed Crimson Tide knocked off sixth-seeded BYU 113-88 to advance to the Elite Eight in the East Region. Sears, who’s been around the block in leading the Crimson Tide deep into the NCAA Tournament with last year’s Final Four run, hit 10 threes, one off the individual record for a tourney game. So although the number of threes was astounding, his excellent play was expected.
It was Holloway’s long-range assault that lit the fuse in the second half and kept the game Cougars at bay, making five of his six threes in the second half, almost all of them stunting BYU rallies as it fought to stay within 10 points and use the partisan crowd inside the Prudential Center.
Though very soft-spoken, Holloway, the sophomore who transferred from rival Auburn, admits that his second go-round with the NCAA Tournament is a redemption tour after his only game in the Big Dance last season, where he missed all five of his shots from the field as the Tigers went down in an upset against Yale.
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Thursday’s East Regional first semifinal, with photos taken by ALOST staff photographer Danny Suriel. After clicking on a photo to enlarge the picture, press the left and right arrow buttons on either side of the caption to scroll through the rest of the pictures that appear on the first page. Also, click on the numbers and/or arrow appearing immediately below the picture grid to load the next set of photos. There are 10 pictures in total.
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