Aden Holloway scored 20 points, while Labaron Philon Jr. and Latrell Wrightsell Jr. added 19 apiece as Alabama held off a game South Carolina squad, 89-75, in a Southeastern Conference contest in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
Alabama (18-7, 8-4 SEC) won its fourth straight game and triumphed for the seventh time in nine outings. They are likely to be ranked in next week’s Associated Press poll after receiving 72 votes last week, only eight less than 25th-ranked Kentucky.
South Carolina (11-14, 2-10) dropped its sixth consecutive game and fell for the 26th time in its last 30 SEC games.
Gamecocks guard Meechie Johnson scored 24 of his game-high 26 points in the second half. Kobe Knox added 21 points and also contributed six assists and six rebounds. Mike Sharavjamts added 14 points and a team-high eight rebounds.
The spunky Gamecocks stayed in contact with the Tide during the early stages of the second half but could not get inside double digits until Johnson drained a long 3-pointer from the left wing to cut the deficit to 63-56, capping a 9-0 run with 8:20 remaining.
But after each team came away empty on their next possessions, Wrightsell answered with his third trey of the evening.
Johnson continued to keep the pressure on, knocking down his third 3-pointer of the half to close the gap to 75-67 with 3:23 remaining. But a Holloway trey to increase the lead to 83-70 with 1:33 left sealed Alabama’s 11th consecutive series win over South Carolina.
The Tide, which entered the game second in the nation in scoring at 91.9 points per game, continued their onslaught from 3-point range, converting 14 of 34. Alabama has buried 12 or more 3-pointers in six consecutive games.
Aiden Sherrell also scored in double figures for Alabama with 11 points, while Amari Allen added eight points and a game-high 10 rebounds.
Both teams were efficient in the early going, as South Carolina converted 10 of its first 19 shots, while Alabama countered with 9 of 14, including 5 of 7 from beyond the arc.
Knox scored 12 of the Gamecocks’ first 23 points as his dunk with 9:50 to play in the half knotted the score at 23. But he would not score the rest of the half and South Carolina’s offense came to a screeching halt.
Alabama ended the half on a 22-9 run, starting with a Holloway 3-pointer and punctuated by an Allen fast-break dunk with 11 seconds to play in the stanza.
The Tide knocked down 9 of 17 shots from long range in the first 20 minutes, paced by a 3-of-4 effort by Philon.
The Gamecocks misfired on 10 of their final 14 looks of the half and faced their largest deficit in the first 20 minutes at 45-32 at the break.
Johnson was held to one field goal in the first half, but sunk 8-of-17 shots for the game.
–Field Level Media
