Grant Nelson had 16 points, 10 rebounds and five blocks as one of five Alabama scorers in double figures, leading the No. 4 Crimson Tide to a 90-69 rout of Georgia on Saturday in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
In winning their fifth straight game, the Crimson Tide (19-3, 8-1 SEC) shot 52.6 percent from the field, including an 11 of 26 showing on 3-pointers, despite committing 20 turnovers.
Mark Sears had a game-high 20 points to go with six assists and five rebounds. Chris Youngblood and Aden Holloway scored 10 apiece.
Averaging just 2.2 points per game, freshman Aiden Sherrell netted a career-high 12 points — 10 in the first half — and had seven rebounds.
Clifford Omoruyi snatched a team-best 11 boards as the home club earned a 52-36 advantage in rebounds.
Alabama notched its seventh victory in the past eight games against the Bulldogs and third straight overall against them.
The Crimson Tide are 37-1 against unranked competition at home over the past three seasons.
Asa Newell totaled 16 points, seven rebounds and five steals for Georgia (15-7, 3-6). RJ Godfrey had 10 points, but the slumping squad fell to 1-5 in its past six outings.
In their only regular-season meeting against Alabama, the visitors hung in there early and knotted the game 10-all at 14:53 on Newell’s two free throws, but the Crimson Tide came alive in a nearly three-minute span.
Sherrell netted eight, and Holloway and Youngblood canned long shots as they pulled out on a 14-point run to lead 24-10 with 11:46 left.
In a streaky first 20 minutes of alternating hot and cold shooting, Alabama held a 39-28 edge after Labaron Philon’s pair of free throws in the final two seconds capped a six-point run to end the half.
The home side made 11 of 26 shots (42.3), while Georgia struggled and went 10 of 37 (27 percent).
In the second half, Alabama worked the advantage back to 14 points at 17:25 on Sears’ layup, and Georgia managed to get it to as close as nine on multiple occasions before the Crimson Tide rolled away.
–Field Level Media
