No. 24 Alabama Beats South Carolina 90-71 After Big 1st Half

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) — Jaden Shackelford had 21 points and Jahvon Quinerly added 20 to lead No. 24 Alabama to a 90-71 victory over South Carolina on Saturday night.

The Crimson Tide (19-10, 9-7 Southeastern Conference) built a big lead and brushed off a second-half comeback attempt by the Gamecocks (17-11, 8-8). Alabama has won five of its last six games.

Quinerly and Shackelford both made four 3-pointers. Quinerly went 4 of 5 from 3-point range, all in a first half when he scored 18, and had five assists.

He delivered 17 second-half points and 19 overall against Vanderbilt earlier in the week when he was benched at the start for lack of defensive effort.

Keon Ellis added 17 points, seven rebounds and four assists for Alabama. Charles Bediako scored 11 pointds, and JD Davison added 10.

Erik Stevenson had 15 points, seven assists and five rebounds for South Carolina. James Reese V added 14 points and Jermaine Couisnard had 13.

South Carolina did make it interesting for awhile in the second half.

The Tide built a 23-point halftime on hot shooting, especially from Quinerly and Shackelford. Then the Gamecocks cooled them off considerably, pulling to 58-52 on Erik Stevenson’s fast-break layup eight minutes into the second half.

Shackelford hit back to back 3-pointers to help Alabama pull away again.

Alabama missed its first nine shots of the second half.

The Tide came out hot, making nine of 10 shots during one first-half stretch and getting their first four makes from 3-point range.

BIG PICTURE

South Carolina couldn’t sustain the momentum of its first four-game league winning streak in February since joining the SEC in 1992. Committed 15 turnovers by halftime and 19 overall.

Alabama is still struggling to put a 40-minute game together but built enough of a lead to weather the second-half slump. Made 9 of 18 3-pointers in the first half.

SENIOR NIGHT

Alabama started walk-ons Tyler Barnes and Britton Johnson for Senior Night, though the team has one more home game. Neither scored during that stretch but they left with the Tide up 12-5 thanks to a 3-point barrage.

UP NEXT

South Carolina: Hosts Missouri on Tuesday night.

Alabama: Hosts Texas A&M on Wednesday night.