Alabama
Georgia
Men's Basketball Beats Georgia, 75-70
1/31/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 31, 2009
Final Stats | Notes | Photo Gallery 
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - The University of Alabama men's basketball team (13-8, 3-4 SEC) never trailed in the second half and earned its first victory under interim head coach Phillip Pearson Saturday night, knocking off Georgia (9-12, 0-6 SEC) 75-70 at Coleman Coliseum.
The Crimson Tide extended a five point halftime lead to 10 in the first 3:30 of the second frame when sophomore Mikhail Torrance made a jumper to give Alabama a 50-40 lead. The Bulldogs never got closer than four points from that point.
"Georgia is a tough team to play," head coach Phillip Pearson said. "I know they're record isn't necessarily where they'd like it to be, but they're a good team. They guard you; they're very tough around the basket. They're a physical team. I was proud of our guys. They hung in there tonight."
Senior Alonzo Gee scored 20 points on just eight shots from the field to lead the Tide. Gee went 6-8 from the floor, a perfect 3-3 from behind the arc and 5-7 from the free throw line. Sophomore Senario Hillman made an impact on both ends of the court with 19 points, three assists and five steals.
Hillman drilled 3-4 shots from three-point range, and he and Gee combined to make all six of Alabama's shots from deep. JaMychal Green posted his third double-double of his freshman campaign, scoring 14 points and grabbing a team-high 13 rebounds. Green also added three blocked shots to his impressive stat line.
"Alonzo and Senario knocked down some big shots and that left the middle wide open for me," Green said. "They were able to get me the ball inside, and I was able to finish."
The Alabama defense held Georgia to 40 percent shooting and forced 20 Bulldog turnovers that led to 25 points. Meanwhile the Tide shot 47 percent from the field, scoring 36 points in the paint, and 46 percent from three-point range.
Alabama led 40-35 after a hotly contested first half that featured four ties and four lead changes. Gee got the Tide going, scoring nine of the team's first 14 points on his way to 15 points before the break.
Alabama led by as many as eight points early after a Hillman three-pointer gave the Tide a 17-9 lead. However, Georgia countered with an 8-0 run to even the score, and the game remained tight until intermission.
"I felt like the start of the game was going to be very important, and I wanted to get off to the best start that we could," Pearson said. "I asked the team to set the tempo for the rest of the year, as far as how we are going to play. We had a little bit of a lull in the middle of the first half, but we were able to get the job done."
Georgia forward Howard Thompkins put up a double-double and led the Bulldogs with 22 points and 14 rebounds.
The Tide travels to Nashville, Tenn. for its next contest against Vanderbilt on Thursday, Feb. 5. The game will air on ESPN2 and is scheduled to tip-off at 6 p.m. CT.
