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Tennessee Routs Alabama 86-62

Tribune photo by JASON BEHNKEN

Tennessee's Wayne Chism and his teammates celebrate their win over Alabama to advance to the semifinals.

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The Associated Press

Published: March 13, 2009

Updated: 03/13/2009 10:17 pm

TAMPA - Tyler Smith scored 22 points and Wayne Chism added 15 Friday night to lead Tennessee to an 86-62 rout of cold-shooting Alabama in the quarterfinals of the Southeastern Conference tournament.

The Volunteers (20-11) avenged a regular-season-ending home loss to the Crimson Tide, building an 11-point lead before going on a 17-0 run to start the second half. They'll face Auburn or Florida in Saturday's semifinals.

Tennessee won easily despite horrendous 3-point shooting (4 of 24, 16.7 percent). But the Volunteers were 31-for-48 (64.5 percent) inside the arc, with Smith, Chism and J.P. Prince, who scored 14, doing most of the damage.

Mikhail Torrance scored 13 points for Alabama (18-14), which regrouped after the late January resignation of former coach Mark Gottfried to play its best basketball of the season under interim coach Philip Pearson.

Alonzo Gee was a major reason why the Crimson Tide had won five of six games coming into the quarterfinals. But the senior from Riviera Beach, Fla., struggled Friday night, finishing with 12 points on 4-for-11 shooting.

Gee scored 25 in Alabama's first-round victory over Vanderbilt, but struggled for the second straight game against Tennessee. He had averaged 18.6 points per game during Alabama's season-ending surge, although he was 4-of-17 shooting and held to nine points in Knoxville.

The Alabama star missed his first three shots and was scoreless through the first 11 minutes. Mikhail Torrance tried to take up the slack, but the Crimson Tide never found a rhythm offensively.

Last Sunday, poor free-throw shooting and Anthony Brock's desperation 3-pointer at the buzzer doomed Tennessee in its 70-67 loss to Alabama. The Volunteers dominated from the opening tip in this one, bolting to a 19-9 lead and barely looking back.

It was 43-32 at the half, with Tennessee shooting 44 percent despite being 1-of-14 on 3-point attempts. Inside the arc, the Volunteers had plenty of easy scoring opportunities, thanks in part to their relentless defensive pressure.

In all, Tennessee scored 60 points in the paint.

The scoreboard above the court at the St. Pete Times malfunctioned at halftime, forcing anyone interested in knowing just how far Tennessee was ahead to turn to the upper deck of the half-empty arena.

The 17-0 run to begin the second half boosted the Volunteers' advantage to 60-32. Alabama was 0-for-6 and turned the ball over seven times during the seven-minute stretch. When Andrew Steele went to the foul line and sank a free throw to stop the run, a lone fan could be heard cheering and clapping sarcastically.

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