NCAA BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT : Horry Makes Sure Alabama Is on Target

Robert Horry peered at the third-best defense in the nation Friday, then shot it full of holes.

Horry’s 27 points on 10-for-14 shooting led Alabama past Colorado State, 71-54, in the first round of the NCAA West Regional at the Long Beach Arena.

When Colorado State, giving up 58.9 points a game, tried to play Alabama man to man, Horry slipped free for long jump shots. When the Rams went to a zone, Horry, a 6-foot-9 sophomore forward, shot over the defenders.

Meanwhile, the Crimson Tide shut out the Rams during a 6-minute 24-second span in the first half as it improved to 25-8. Alabama will play Arizona at about 5 p.m. in Sunday’s second-round game.

Colorado State finished at 21-9.

The Rams led, 20-18, after Mike Mitchell made one of two free throws with 8:06 left in the half. Then Colorado State, which had controlled the game’s pace and had led by as many as seven points early, went cold. Mitchell finally ended the drought with a short jump shot, but Alabama had scored 13 consecutive points.

By halftime, the Tide led, 33-22, as Horry, a 44.5% shooter, made six of seven shots, including five three-pointers.

“Any time you have a drought like we had, you’re certainly not going to stay in the game,” Colorado State Coach Boyd Grant said.

And the Rams didn’t, trailing by as many as 19 points late in the game on the way to their worst defeat of the season.

“Every time I looked up at the scoreboard, we were always pretty far behind,” Grant said.

Colorado State made one run at Alabama, closing to 52-42 with 7:59 left.

But David Benoit sank a jumper from the lane, Horry picked up a loose ball at mid-court and dunked and, after Colorado State called a timeout, Alabama’s Melvin Cheatum and James Sanders scored from the outside.

Alabama’s lead was a comfortable 60-42 with 4:22 to play.

“From about the 10-minute marker until the end of the game we were a pretty good defensive basketball team,” Alabama Coach Wimp Sanderson said.

And with Horry, who made six of eight three-pointers, and Sanders, who had 18 points on seven-of-10 shooting, leading the way, Alabama shot 62.2% from the field.

Alabama, which made 15 of 21 second-half shots, fought Colorado State’s defense with patience. Horry said he was content to pick his spots.

“I wasn’t going to force the threes,” said Horry, who was two points short of his career high.

Said Sanderson: “The only thing I try to tell him is to sort out his shots. I thought he shot a couple today that were questionable, but they went in so I said, ‘Good shot.’ ”

Mitchell, a forward from Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, led Colorado State with 24 points, 17 in the second half. Mark Meredith added 15 points.