Alabama basketball found itself in another nail-biter during its second game of the Player’s Era Festival. The Crimson Tide was pushed hard by a relentless Rutgers side in its 93-88 win Tuesday night. But just like it did in its first game of the tournament against Houston, Alabama did just enough to take down a pesky and talented opponent.

The Scarlet Knights were led by a pair of fearless freshmen and a supporting cast that forced mistakes and miscues from No. 9 Alabama to stay in the game. Alabama guard Mark Sears continued his impressive form after a strong game in the Tide’s first game of the tournament against Houston. Rutgers freshmen Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey matched Sears’ output combining for 59 points as both players continued to shake off whoever Alabama put on them.

Despite the best efforts from a few future NBA Draft picks, Alabama was able to find its offense from beyond the arc, overcome early miscues and lean on its best player to reach the championship game of the Player's Era Festival.

Here are three takeaways from Alabama’s second matchup against Rutgers.

It was clear from the opening tip that both teams played the night before. Though Alabama’s depth helped it to an 85-80 overtime win over Houston, the Tide wasn’t immune to fatigue in the opening minutes against the Scarlet Knights.

Fortunately for Alabama, Rutgers matched its early energy, or lack thereof to start the game. Both teams combined for 10 turnovers in the opening nine minutes and were tied at 13 at the under-12 media timeout. The Tide went on a 9-0 run during the middle portion of the first half, but it hardly felt damaging as the points were sandwiched between turnovers and fouls on both ends.

Alabama has struggled with giveaways in both of its games of the Players Era Tournament. The Tide had four turnovers in its opening five possessions as it figured out how to navigate the Cougars' sensational defense. Rutgers has a top-100 defense according to KenPom but stepped up against Alabama's offense, while the Tide seemed to cause many of its own problems.

The Tide maintained an early lead however due to Rutgers' inability to turn Alabama’s giveaways into points. Rutgers didn’t convert on Alabama’s first eight turnovers of the game but started to cash in when the Tide reached double figures in turnovers, helping Rutgers tie the game by the 7:51 mark of the first half.

The shots started to fall for both teams as the first half went on, but Alabama continued to give the ball away. The Tide entered Wednesday night averaging 11.2 turnovers per game but had 11 by the end of the opening period against Rutgers.

Alabama’s turnover issues slowed down slightly but didn’t stop in the second half. The Crimson Tide finished with 20 giveaways, including a few crucial turnovers that saw Alabama nearly surrender an eight-point lead in the final minutes. Rutgers began to take more advantage of the Tide's miscues in the second half, too. Rutgers turned Alabama's turnovers into 23 points on offense.

"Our turnovers were a major issue," Alabama coach Nate Oats said after the game. "They scored 23 points off our turnovers. That's way too many against a skilled, talented team that's supposed to be a good offensive team. We didn't take care of the ball tonight."

Alabama’s first-half miscues overshadowed what was otherwise a strong shooting performance in the opening period. The Tide shot 55% from the field and made five 3s in the first half, yet found itself tied 41-41 at the halftime interval.

That performance wouldn’t be overshadowed in the second half as Alabama found a foothold in the game. The Tide finished shooting 40% from beyond the 3-point line. Its makes became even more crucial as the game wore on and Rutgers continued to hound Alabama on the defensive end.

The Tide moved the ball well to find open shooters despite Rutgers' continuing to force turnovers and make its best attempt to hound Alabama on every possession. Five players hit 3-pointers, including forward Jarin Stevenson. The sophomore drilled two 3s from the same spot in the right corner after starting the season 0 for 18 from beyond the arc.

While Alabama’s 3s continued falling, the same can’t be said for the Tide’s shots from the charity stripe for much of the game. Alabama shot just 67.6% from the free throw line for the game. Its missed free throws prevented the Tide from pulling away in a game that had plenty of foul calls. At one point Alabama's 3-point percentage was 46.7% with its free throw percentage at a lowly 42.9%.

Fortunately, Alabama's outside shooting from up and down its rotation helped propel the Tide to a narrow win. Stevenson and Derrion Reid each finished with 10 points while Grant Nelson had 17 points and nine rebounds. Mouhamed Dioubate had another strong outing with 10 points and nine boards and won the Hard Hat for the most blue-collar points for the second straight game. Nelson and Dioubte's rebounding efforts also helped Alabama outscore Rutgers 18-9 on second-chance points.

As Rutgers continued to hang around, Alabama’s best player decided to take matters into his own hands.

Sears has fully put his 0-point performance against Illinois behind him. He led Alabama with 24 points in its win over Houston and carried that performance into a spectacular second-half display to help the Tide fight off a scrappy Rutgers side. Sears once again racked up 24 points, along with five assists and a pair of steals.

Alabama’s best player scored 13 points in the opening five minutes of the second half to give Alabama the edge it needed, particularly after he picked up his fourth foul and was forced to the bench.

With Sears out, Rutgers was able to push the pace and get back into the game. When Sears came back, Alabama went on a 7-0 run to take an 87-78 lead with five minutes remaining. The veteran Sears calmed his teammates down and the Tide leaned on him to be aggressive and close out another hard-fought win.

Alabama (6-1) will face Oregon (7-0) in the championship game of the Player’s Era Festival. The two teams will face off at 8:30 p.m. CT Saturday inside MGM Grand Arena. The game will be broadcast on TNT.