The formula was nearly followed to the letter.

Mark Sears grabbed the late offensive rebound and Alabama had a chance late to tie or take the lead late. Jahvon Quinerly looked for the outlet, but Texas A&M’s Wade Taylor IV picked it off. The Reed Arena crowd burst as Quinerly was forced to foul and the free throws were swished, preventing Alabama from setting a program record with a 17th conference win.

While there were potentially no postseason consequences of Saturday’s 67-61 final, No. 2 Alabama (26-5, 16-2 Southeastern Conference) had another early shooting slump which led to a halftime deficit. And when the comeback at about the midway point of the second half did come — a staple of the last three close wins — the No. 24 Aggies (23-8, 15-3) weren’t as easily swatted away as South Carolina, Arkansas and Auburn were.

A few more 3-pointers began to fall for the Tide, the breakaway offense opened up and the defense limited A&M to multiple scoreless stretches. When Brandon Miller fouled out though, there wasn’t enough offense to prevent a momentum-generating win for the Aggies ahead of a potential rematch in eight days.

Alabama has six days to remedy its problem with recent slow starts before the SEC tournament kicks off for them in Nashville. The games will tip off Wednesday in Bridgestone Arena and with its top seed, the Tide will play its first game on Friday.

The Tide took its first lead with about five minutes left in the game as Quinerly swished a 3-pointer. He kept up his run of “March JQ” as head coach Nate Oats has referenced of late, scoring 10 points and giving the Tide another ball-handler who could create his own shot aside from Miller.

Meanwhile, the Tide’s star freshman again was off the mark from deep (2-for-12) but put together 19 points and 10 rebounds before earning his fifth foul with 1:59 left in the game. Sears would also foul out as both Jaden Bradley and Charles Bediako dealt with foul trouble.

Alabama attempted 11 free throws, making 10 of them, compared to A&M’s 27-for-28 performance from the line.

As has been the case in its close endings, the Tide’s defense was effective. It forced tough layups and prevented open looks. A&M shot 34% from the field and hit a quarter of its 16 3-pointers. The only issue was Alabama was seen worse, going 7-for-36 from deep and 33.8% overall.

This post will be updated.

Nick Alvarez is a reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @nick_a_alvarez or email him at [email protected].