.png&type=webp)
Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
Alabama
Falcons Nearly Pull Off Upset Versus No. 2 Alabama, 72-63
December 14, 2002 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 14, 2002
By JOHN ZENOR
AP Sports Writer
MOBILE, Ala. - - Alabama nearly made its highest ranking ever a one-week cameo.
Kenny Walker saved the second-ranked Crimson Tide (7-0) from that embarrassment, scoring a career-high 25 points and coming up big late in a 72-63 victory over Bowling Green on Saturday in the Coors Classic.
"They had a week off and I'm sure people were telling them how good they were," Falcons coach Dan Dakich said. "They don't know Bowling Green from a bowling ball."
Now, they do.
Kevin Netter scored 26 points for the Falcons (2-4) as he and Walker essentially played to a draw under the basket.
Netter's hook shot in the lane made it 66-63 with 1:51 left, but Walker made perhaps his biggest play when he drew his counterpart's fifth foul 34 seconds later.
Walker hit one of two free throws and the Falcons didn't score again. He had returned to the game two seconds earlier after getting benched for lackluster defensive play.
"I was like, 'Coach, put me back in,"' Walker said, smiling. "It was a great decision."
Netter's decision to go for the block wound up hurting him.
"Maybe I shouldn't have went up for that block, but I didn't want to not be aggressive," he said. "I didn't want him to get an easy bucket."
Emmett Thomas, making his first start, dunked off a nice pass in the paint from Mo Williams with 48 seconds left and then Walker drilled two more free throws.
Williams and Thomas scored 14 points apiece for the Tide, while Erwin Dudley overcame a tough offensive performance with 11 rebounds. Dudley was 1-of-6 shooting for a season-low five points and was on the bench at the end.
Walker was 11-of-17 and blocked five shots.
John Reimold had 13 points and eight rebounds for Bowling Green while Cory Eyink had 12 points and hit two rare 3-pointers in a 50-second span late. He was 1-of-5 from 3-point range in the first five games.
"We didn't expect him to knock down 3-point shots," Walker said. "That changed the whole ball game right there."
The Tide opened the second half on a 21-5 run and took a 58-34 lead with 12:30 to play after missing its final six shots of the first half.
"I thought we played very well for about 30 minutes," said Alabama coach Mark Gottfried, a Mobile native. "We kind of pulled back a little bit and weren't nearly as aggressive late in the game."
The Falcons capitalized with a 29-8 run to put a scare in Alabama.
"Our guys finally started playing how they're capable of playing instead of acting scared," Dakich said.
South Alabama beat Georgia State 81-68 in the first game of the doubleheader at the Mitchell Center. Gottfried's father, Joe, is South Alabama's athletic director.
Alabama shuffled its starting lineup, giving Thomas and Antoine Pettway their first starts in the backcourt. Earnest Shelton and Terrence Meade had been struggling with their outside shots all season.
Netter scored nine of Bowling Green's first 11 points as the Falcons trailed 37-29 at halftime. They could take heart in one statistic: The eight-point deficit matched Oklahoma for the closest any opponent has come to the Tide at the half.
Gottfried said the two best teams Alabama had played this season could have used Netter inside.
"He would start for Oklahoma and Ohio State," he said. "He's better than any post player those two teams had."
