Tide Wins SEC Opener Over Arkansas, 61-51
1/9/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
By Chris Woodfin
The No. 4 ranked University of Alabama men's basketball team (11-1, 1-0) opened Southeastern Conference play with a hard fought, defensive victory over the University of Arkansas (5-7, 0-1) Wednesday night, 61-51. The victory extended Alabama's school record home winning streak to 27 games.
The win avenged Alabama's season ending loss to Kent State in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Arkansas head coach Stan Heath was the head coach for Kent State during the 2001-2002 season.
After trailing by five with 8:29 left in the first half, the Alabama defense turned up the intensity, holding Arkansas to just one point the rest of the half as the Tide went on to take 25-17 halftime lead.
Alabama never looked back, pushing out to as much as a 14 point lead before settling for the 10 point victory.
The Tide defense was tough, holding Arkansas to 24 percent shooting in the first half and 35 percent shooting for the game.
Alabama was led offensively by Antoine Pettway. The junior guard keyed the Tide off the bench nailing four three-pointers on his way to scoring a game high 14 points for Alabama.
Alabama head Coach Mark Gottfried was pleased with the play of Pettway after struggling for several games.
"He's really been working hard," Gottfried said. "He stays after practice a lot of days. He made some big shots. I think there was a stretch the last four or five games he hasn't shot a great percentage, but those guys are confident players. I don't want guys out there second guessing themselves. You have got to step up and make big shots, Antoine did tonight."
Also contributing for Alabama was Erwin Dudley. The senior from Uniontown collected his second straight double-double and fifth on the season, scoring 11 points and a grabbing a game high 14 rebounds.
The game also marked the debut of heralded Tide freshman Kennedy Winston. The Mobile native picked up six points and four boards in 12 minutes of action.
Gottfried was happy to have Winston finally see game action.
"I was glad to get him (Winston) in there," Gottfried said. "It's always good when you get in the game and the ball goes through the net. He just needs time, time to play."
The Razorbacks were led by Kendrick Davis who scored a team high 13 points. Also contributing for the Hogs were Dionisio Gomez and Jonathon Modica who scored 10 points apiece.
The Tide travels to Nashville Saturday to continue SEC competition against the Vanderbilt Commodores. Tip-off for the contest is set for 8:00 p.m. The game will be televised on SEC-TV and can be heard on the Crimson Tide Sports Network.
