KNOXVILLE -- Lew Evans may have saved his best for the final home game of his one-year stint with Tennessee's basketball program.
The graduate transfer's heroics gave the Volunteers a remarkable win they badly needed heading into the Southeastern Conference tournament next week in Nashville.
Evans made two huge 3s and two key defensive plays in crunch time as struggling Tennessee overcame a miserable first half and rallied from 16 points down in the second half to stun Alabama 59-54 in the regular-season finale at Thompson-Boling Arena on Saturday afternoon.
Tennessee (16-15, 8-10 SEC), which played a miserable second half in a loss to league doormat LSU on Wednesday and had lost five of its past six games, will be the No. 9 seed in the SEC tournament and will play the No. 8 seed -- either Georgia, Vanderbilt or Ole Miss depending on Saturday's other results -- in the opening game on Thursday afternoon.
Evans had a couple of teeth knocked out after taking a hard shot in the loss in Baton Rouge, and though he'll need dental surgery after the season, he never wavered on playing in his Tennessee home finale on Saturday.
It was vital for the Vols he did.
The Crimson Tide (17-13, 10-8) led 40-24 on Jimmie Taylor's hook shot at the 18:37 mark, but Tennessee stormed back into the game with a 14-2 run, capped by a four-point possession when Grant Williams was dunked and fouled and Admiral Schofield scored after the Vols rebounded the missed free throw, in the span of just three minutes.
Evans triggered the run with a 3 from the wing.
Lamonte Turner pulled Tennessee to within 46-45 on a 3-pointer with 10:15 to go, and the Vols finally took the lead (48-47) on a Williams trey from the corner with 8:35 remaining.
Corban Collins scored five straight points and Braxton Key hit a jumper to put Alabama back ahead as the Vols missed six straight shots and fell behind by five.
Evans ended the run with a 3-pointer after Shembari Phillips hustled down the court to intercept a pass as Alabama threatened on a fastbreak, stole a pass and saved the ball.
Schofield put Tennessee back in front 54-53 with a 3 with 1:57 to go, and Evans took the Vols home from there.
He took a charge on a drive, though Tennessee caught a break because it appeared his left foot was on the block/charge arc in the lane.
The former Tulsa and Utah State forward then hit a 3 for a 57-53 lead and got a piece of Collins's shot at the other end.
Key, the Nashville native, split two free throws with 17.3 seconds left to pull the Tide within a possession, but Tennessee broke Alabama's pressure, avoided a foul and finished the sequence with Schofield's wide open dunk.
Tennessee held Alabama to just 18 points on 25 percent (6-of-24) shooting in the second half, and the Tide only hit one 3 in the second half after sinking seven before halftime.
Williams double-doubled with 16 points and 10 rebounds, Evans chipped in 13 points and Schofield scored 10.
Robert Hubbs III scored just six points on 1-of-7 shooting in his final home game.
Alabama took control midway through the first half with an 8-0 spurt to take a 21-10 lead as Tennessee made just four of its first 22 shots against the Tide, who boasted the SEC's second-best defense.
Riley Norris came off the bench to score 13 first-half points for Alabama, which uncharacteristically made 7-of-9 3-pointers in the first half despite entering the game 13th in the conference at 31 percent long-range shooting this season.
More to form, Alabama smothered the Vols defensively.
Tennessee shot just 20 percent (6-of-30) in the first half and made just one of a dozen attempts from 3-point range. The Vols recorded just two assists. Williams was the only Vol to make more than one shot, and he was 2-of-7.
Tennessee trailed 36-22 at the break, but the deficit would have been larger had Alabama not turned the ball over eight times while shooting 56.5 percent.
Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com.