IT WAS A record-breaking night from the Alabama Crimson Tide as they made the most three-pointers in a single NCAA National Tournament game in their win over the BYU Cougars, with guard Mark Sears leading the way.

The Crimson Tide were favoured coming into the clash, coming off an impressive win that was headlined by a tremendous team performance, with five players hitting double-digits in the points column. Although the Cougars had a solid victory of their own, it would take their best if they were to upset an in-form Alabama side.

It was a one-sided affair in the end, with the Crimson Tide proving far too good across the two halves and never looking in danger of dropping the lead. Alabama’s victory was built on its efforts from behind the arc, with the Crimson Tide nailing 25 triples in the best team shooting performance in March Madness history. Although BYU tried to keep up, it is just about impossible to do so when the opposition is firing that well from downtown.

Although there were several key contributors for the victors again, Sears was the clear standout, and has further cemented himself as a big game player.

Alabama Crimson Tide (113) def. BYU Cougars (88)

Mark Sears – 34 points, three rebounds, eight assists, three steals

Coming off a quiet performance heading into the Sweet 16, it was the perfect bounce back from Sears, who silenced the critics with an offensive explosion that showed just how dangerous he makes this Alabama team.

He did a lot of the heavy lifting on the scoring front, particularly from long-range, which was the area that gave the Crimson Tide the upper hand. Once his teammates saw his success shooting the three ball, they promptly followed suit and it ended up being a night for the record books.

Sears nailed 10 triples for the match on 16 attempts, with five coming in each half in a masterful sharpshooting performance. Whether it was straight out of the catch or off the dribble, he was seeing a bigger basket than everyone else on the court, and it was the difference in getting Alabama to a winning score.

Despite the defence’s best efforts to deny him the ball and try and keep him away from any good looks, Sears was simply too relentless in his pursuit of long range shots, and his quick release was far too fast for the closing defender.

As expected, BYU changed its defensive coverage as the game rolled on to try and nullify his impact, but Sears had the smarts to make clever exit passes that got his teammates wide open looks. Fellow backcourt gun Chris Youngblood was one of the biggest beneficiaries of this, nailing five triples of his own with Sears putting him in some excellent places.

It was a superstar calibre performance from Sears, who has always seemed built for March Madness and the pressure it brings, and if he can continue to fire from behind the arc, it will make the Crimson Tide extremely difficult to stop as the tournament draws to a close.