Alabama
LSU
Mo Williams Leads Tide Past LSU Tigers, 75-66
2/1/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
By Chris Woodfin
University of Alabama guard Mo Williams scored 21 of his game high 27 points in the second half as the No. 23 ranked (AP)/ No. 21 ranked (ESPN/USA Today) Alabama men's basketball team (13-5, 3-4) defeated LSU (12-7, 1-6) 75-66 in front of a sold out crowd at Coleman Coliseum. The victory ended the Tide's three game skid and marked Alabama's fifth consecutive win against the Tigers.
With Bama holding a 34-28 halftime lead, Mo Williams keyed the Tide to a quick start, scoring eight of Alabama's first nine points over the first 3:03 of the second half to push the lead to 12 points.
The Tide never looked back, holding as high as an 18 point lead before settling for the nine point victory.
As a team, Alabama protected the ball well, only turning the ball over seven times while forcing 15. The Tide used the turnover difference to their advantage, outscoring the Tigers 17-8.
Kenny Walker also came up big for the Tide. The senior from Jacksonville, Fla. collected his fourth career double-double, scoring 16 points and grabbing 10 boards. Erwin Dudley chipped in 14 points from the floor and picked up nine rebounds.
Alabama head coach Mark Gottfried was pleased with the play of Mo Williams and Kenny Walker.
"Mo Williams, I thought, stepped up and made some big-time plays," Gottfried said. "I was really proud of Kenny Walker. I thought he played aggressive around the basket. He's playing hard and that's all you can ask."
Also contributing for Alabama was red shirt freshman Lucky Williams, who saw the most action of his young career. The native of Nigeria scored the first six points of his career and played stellar defense for Alabama.
Gottfried was impressed with Lucky Williams' defensive play.
"We wanted to get Lucky a chance early in the game, just to see how he does and I thought he played him (LSU's Ronald Dupree) very well," Gottfried said. "He played him tough and he did a nice job on the offensive end as well."
Lucky Williams was happy to see action and did what the coaches asked of him.
"The coaches wanted me to play good defense, and I went in and played good defense," Lucky Williams said. "I didn't care about how much I scored. I was just doing what the coaches wanted me to do."
Ronald Dupree scored 22 points to lead four LSU players in double figures. Also contributing for the Tigers were Brad Bridgewater with 12 points and Torris Bright with 11 points while Darrel Mitchell scored 10 points off the bench.
Alabama returns to action Wednesday night as the Tide travels to Fayetteville, Ark. to play the Arkansas Razorbacks. Tip-off for the SEC West showdown is set 7:00 p.m. The game will be televised by Jefferson Pilot. The Crimson Tide Sports Network will carry the radio broadcast.
