Alabama Basketball Ends Road Losing Streak, Holds Off South Carolina 81-78
No. 11 Alabama basketball won its first road game in three outings on Tuesday night, taking down South Carolina 81-78 inside Colonial Life Arena.
The Crimson Tide was down by 11 early in the first half, but overcame the deficit with the help of a 20-point performance by senior guard John Petty Jr. in a tight game to take down the Gamecocks.
"That was a tough, hard-fought win," Alabama coach Nate Oats said after the game. "I mean, that's a hard-playing group. That's what [South Carolina coach Frank Martin]'s known for. He's got those guys playing hard."
At the 17:33 mark of the first half, redshirt-freshman forward Juwan Gary went down with a shoulder injury after getting tangled up with South Carolina's Wildens Leveque. Gary was immediately taken to the locker room and did not return to the game.
Tuesday night was Gary's first career start for the Crimson Tide. Upon his departure, senior forward Alex Reese stepped into the game, putting forth one of his best physical outings of the season.
"I thought Alex Reese played super hard," Oats said. "We've been starting him. I thought maybe he was a little better off the bench. I thought he came in as soon as Juwan got hurt and gave us everything he got the entire time.
"He played over 19 minutes and I can't say enough about Reese's effort."
After the game, Oats noted that Gary's shoulder will be re-evaluated once the team returns to Tuscaloosa.
South Carolina opened the game with an 11-2 run to take the early lead. Alabama was displaying a lot of energy on offense but was unable to convert that energy into points on the scoreboard.
Down 16-5, the Crimson Tide powered through a 10-0 run to pull within one, then took its first lead at the 8:58 mark.
For the remainder of the first half, the lead would change two more times, with the Crimson Tide taking the edge with a halftime lead of 39-36.
Alabama possessed the lead for the majority of the second half, but South Carolina remained within striking distance. The Gamecocks held within two possessions heading into the under-eight media timeout.
A clutch three-pointer by sophomore guard Jahvon Quinerly with 6:16 to go finally put some distance between the Crimson Tide and the Gamecocks, pushing the score to 73-66 in favor of Alabama and forcing South Carolina to call a timeout. Another clutch three by Quinerly at the 4:20 mark put the Crimson Tide up by eight.
At the 3:37 mark, senior wing Herb Jones fouled out of the game, giving South Carolina an edge on its offensive end of the court. At the time, Alabama was ahead 76-70. The Gamecocks proceeded to score six to cut the margin down to 78-76 with 52 seconds left to go, forcing the Crimson Tide to call a timeout.
A missed jumper by South Carolina guard Seventh Woods resulted in Alabama junior guard Keon Ellis being fouled with 16 seconds left. Ellis made one of his two free throws, increasing the Alabama lead to three.
Gamecocks junior guard A.J. Lawson missed a three, with Crimson Tide forward James Rojas getting the rebound. However, Rojas would turn the ball over on a jump ball, giving South Carolina the ball with three seconds left.
Justin Minaya would score a layup with two seconds to go for the Gamecocks, putting the score at 79-78 in favor of the Crimson Tide. However, two free throws by Rojas on the ensuing possession put Alabama on top by three, a margin that South Carolina couldn't overcome in the final second.
Alabama defeated South Carolina 81-78 for its first road win since Jan. 19 at LSU.
"I would've like for the guys to open it up, but it's not bad to win a close one, either," Oats said. "I think we're 3-3 in two-possession games — last year we were 4-11. We put a big point of emphasis on learning how to close.
"I thought we did some dumb things late in the game but we did enough to win it."
Petty was crucial in the Crimson Tide victory, leading the team in both points and rebounds with 20 and eight respectively. Quinerly, who had been struggling over the last several weeks after a hot start to the season, finished the game with 13 points and a rebound.
The 20-point game for Petty is the most the senior guard has scored since Jan. 19 at LSU when he tallied 24.
"I just had to do what I had to do," Petty said after the game. "I really wasn't feeling no type of way and I was going to do whatever it [took] for us tonight to get the win."
Freshman guard Josh Primo and sophomore guard Jaden Shackelford were the final two double-digit scorers for Alabama, with Primo registering 12 points and Shackelford 10.
Reese ended his night scoring nine points in 19 minutes along with four rebounds and a block.
For the Gamecocks, three shooters were able to tally double-digits on Tuesday night in Lawson (21), Keyshawn Bryant (16), Minaya (15) and Woods (11). Minaya led the team in rebounds with seven.
Moving forward, Alabama will need to concentrate on ball control. On Tuesday night, the Crimson Tide turned the ball over 22 times compared to the Gamecocks' 19. On a positive note, Alabama was able to out-rebound South Carolina 41-39, turning the game in the Crimson Tide's favor.
With the win, Alabama moves to 16-5 overall and is now 11-1 in SEC play. South Carolina drops to 5-8 overall and is 3-6 in the conference. As it stands following Tuesday night's game, the Crimson Tide is projected as a 2-seed in the NCAA Tournament and would get a bye through the first two rounds of the SEC Tournament.
Up next, Alabama returns home to take on the Georgia Bulldogs in Coleman Coliseum on Saturday. The game is slated for a 2:30 p.m. CT tip (SEC Network).
