Alabama
3-4,0-0SEC
Southern Miss
-26,00 CUSA
Beetle Bolden’s 23 Points Help Lift Alabama to a Convincing 83-68 Win Over Southern Miss to Close Out Battle 4 Atlantis
11/29/2019 11:13:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Bolden knocked down a career-best six three-pointers off the bench in route to his season-best scoring output
PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas – Graduate senior Beetle Bolden scored a season-high 23 points, including 15 in the second half alone, and knocked down a career-best six three-pointers to lead the Alabama men's basketball team past Southern Miss 83-66 on Friday night in the final game of the 2019 Bad Boy Mowers Battle 4 Atlantis.
With the win, the Crimson Tide (3-4) was one of the three teams to finish the event with a 1-2 record, joining Iowa State and No. 11 Oregon with identical marks. Unranked Michigan defeated No. 8 Gonzaga to claim the tournament championship, while No. 6 North Carolina bettered the Ducks to earn third place. In all, this year's field featured five of the eight teams among the top-15 in the nation, while the Wolverines, which entered the week receiving votes to be ranked, will undoubtedly make their debut in the new poll, which will be announced on Monday.
Bolden finished the night hitting 6-of-8 three-pointers – hitting all four of his attempts in the second half – on his way to his first 20-point scoring game as a member of the Crimson Tide program and the fifth in his career. Entering the contest, he had made a total of six threes in the five games he has played this season.
In addition to Bolden's scoring output, sophomore Kira Lewis Jr. added 20 points on an efficient 7-of-11 shooting from the floor and 4-of-7 from beyond the arc.
Junior John Petty Jr. hit double digits for the third-straight game in the Bahamas, as he collected 10 points and added a team-leading eight rebounds in the winning effort. Petty finished the tournament with 67 total points (22.3 ppg) throughout the three-game tournament, just shy of breaking the event's total scoring record of 74 points by Seton Hall's Myles Powell.
Coach Nate Oats Postgame Comments
- "I thought our energy was really good out of the gate, which was good. I told these guys to make a character game and play as hard as you can. I thought it was a great start, we finished 5-of-5 at the rim in the first five minutes of the game then we went 0-for-1 over the next 15 minutes. I just didn't think we would get the ball in the paint enough and settled for too many threes. Maybe our legs got a little tired, but we started to drag the ball back into the paint during the second half and I thought we did a better job with that. The threes started to drop a little later. I thought overall our defense was a lot better tonight than previously, especially last night. Rebounding-wise we were even on the glass and I was hoping to win the rebounding battle but we have some guys who are banged up and who have some injuries but I was proud of them."
Team Stats
- The Crimson Tide shot 46 percent (15-of-33) from three-point range, making it the most triples it has made in a game since it sank 16 of them against Alabama A&M on Nov. 17, 2017
- Alabama shot 72.7% from the field in the second half, making 16-of-22 field goals, while also connecting on 45.5 percent (5-of-11) of its three-point attempts after the intermission
- The Tide secured the win by sinking eight of its final nine field goal attempts
- After UA took a slim three-point lead into the locker room (38-35) the Crimson Tide outscored the Golden Eagles 45-33 over the final 20 minutes
- The Tide's reserves outscored their counterparts, 35-17, on the night led by Bolden's 23
- Alabama had only five turnovers in the first half and finished the night with a season-low 15 turnovers
- Transition points was a huge advantage for Alabama, as it outscored Southern Miss in the category, 18-6
First Half
- The Crimson Tide raced out to a 20-4 advantage, including a 16-0 run, with 13:48 to play in the opening half
- Alabama maintained its 16-point lead until the second media timeout, as the Tide led 28-12 with 9:49 remaining in the first
- A 12-5 run by the Golden Eagles trimmed the Alabama lead to 33-24 with 5:22 until halftime
- Southern Miss ended the half on a 23-8 run as Alabama went cold from the field, which trimmed the lead to three at intermission
- After starting the game 5-7 from deep, the Tide shot just 2-15 from beyond the arc for the remainder of the first half
Second Half
- A three-pointer by freshman Jaylen Forbes stretched the Alabama lead to 51-42 with 13:58 remaining in the game
- After Southern Miss cut the Alabama lead to 51-45, the Tide embarked on a 17-4 run that extended its largest lead of the game of 19, 68-49, with 8:27 to play
- Bolden scored nine of the 19 points as he drained a trio of three-pointers that fueled the Crimson Tide surge
- The Golden Eagles cut the deficit to 72-61 at the game's final media timeout
- UA drained eight of its final nine shots from the field to secure the victory
The Tide will return to action on Friday, Dec. 6, as it faces Stephen F. Austin inside Coleman Coliseum. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m. CT and will be available on SEC Network+.
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