Shelton Leads Alabama Past Southeastern Louisiana, 83-76
11/25/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
By Chris Woodfin
Junior guard Earnest Shelton scored 21 of his career high 28 points in the second half to lead the University of Alabama men's basketball team to an 83-76 victory in a back and forth game over Southeastern Louisiana. The victory improves the Tide's record to 2-1 on the young season while the Lions fall to 1-1.
Alabama held a 38-31 halftime lead on the strength of 58 percent shooting in the first half, but Southeastern Louisiana battled back to take a 50-49 lead with 13:44 remaining in the game.
From there, Shelton took over for the Tide either tying the game or giving Alabama the lead on five different occasions before putting Alabama up for good with 1:52 remaining. Shelton scored seven of the Tide's final 10 points over the final two minutes to ice the game for Bama.
Shelton, a Memphis, Tennessee native, credited his team for his career night.
"I didn't want to lose and my team found me when I was open," Shelton said. "They set great screens. The team played a big part in my 28 points."
Alabama head coach Mark Gottfried felt the game will serve as a lesson for his team.
"We have got to make our foul shots and stop the careless turnovers," Gottfried said. "Hopefully, for our young group, they learned a lesson tonight that everybody we play has the potential to beat us period."
Kennedy Winston continued to have a hot hand for Alabama scoring 19 points and grabbing nine boards. Also contributing for the Tide were sophomores Evan Brock and Chuck Davis. Brock scored a career high 13 points while Davis scored in double figures for the third straight game with 11 points.
Jonathan Walker led five Southeastern players in double figures, scoring a career high 19 points. Other Lions in double figures included Amir Abdur-Rahim (17 points), Michael Gardner (14 points), Jonathan Patton (11 points) and Terry West with 10 points.
Alabama returns to action Saturday as the Tide travels to Rhode Island to face the Providence Friars. Tip-off is set for 6:30 p.m. C.S.T. The game can be heard on the Crimson Tide Sports Network.
