Mark Sears finished with 22 points and six assists to lead No. 5 Alabama to an 88-68 victory over host South Carolina on Wednesday night in the Southeastern Conference matchup in Columbia, S.C.
The Crimson Tide (13-2, 2-0 SEC) won their seventh in a row and 10th in a row against the Gamecocks (10-5, 0-2 SEC), who dropped their second consecutive game.
Sears helped Alabama recover after a bit of a slow start and take the lead for good with 15:08 left in the first half on a Labaron Philon 3-pointer and free throw.
From that point on, the Crimson Tide used their size advantage at the rim to overpower the Gamecocks. Alabama outscored South Carolina 48-32 on points in the paint.
Alabama showed off its depth with 39 points coming from its bench. All of South Carolina’s points came from its starters until the final minute, when its reserves scored four points.
While the Crimson Tide dominated inside, Sears balanced things from the perimeter, going 4 for 6 from 3-point range as Alabama shot 8 of 19 overall from beyond the arc.
Aden Holloway contributed 13 points on 5-for-7 shooting for Alabama, while Clifford Omoruyi totaled 10 points and five rebounds. Grant Nelson added seven rebounds.
After trailing by 17 at intermission, South Carolina never pulled closer than 14 the rest of the way.
Jacobi Wright led the Gamecocks with 20 points. Jamarii Thomas totaled 15 points, but fouled out with 6:03 left in the game.
Nick Pringle had 13 points and six rebounds, while Zachary Davis had 10 points and five boards. Collin Murray-Boyles led South Carolina with eight rebounds, but he was not a factor on the offensive end, scoring six points on 1-for-6 shooting.
Alabama’s defense made sure of that and did a solid job of limiting easy opportunities once it grabbed the lead in the first half. The Crimson Tide finished with 10 steals and scored 19 points off South Carolina turnovers.
–Field Level Media
