Alabama
4-4,0-0SEC
Stephen F. Austin
7-2,0-0Southland
Alabama’s Dominant Second Half Helps Take Down Stephen F. Austin, 78-68
12/6/2019 10:40:00 PM | Men's Basketball
The Crimson Tide had five players score in double-figures to lead the way
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The Alabama men's basketball team used a balanced scoring attack, with five players in double-figures, to pull away from Stephen F. Austin and grab a 78-68 win on Friday night in Coleman Coliseum.
Five Alabama players out of the eight that saw action in the game finished the night scoring double-digit points led by Jaden Shackelford's 17 points, including hitting 10-of-11 from the foul line.
Alex Reese had a season-high 15 points, shooting 5-from-9 from the floor and 4-of-8 beyond the arc, also breaking a season high with the four threes made. In addition to Reese's offensive output, Kira Lewis Jr. collected 15 points shooting 6-from-9 from the field, while adding six rebounds, three assists and a career-high tying four steals, all of which were in the first 20 minutes. John Petty Jr. and Javian Davis (11) also reached double figures as the Tide (4-4) handed the Lumberjacks (7-2) just their second loss of the season. SFA's seven wins includes a defeat of then-No. 1 Duke last week in overtime.
Nate Oats Postgame Comments
"I thought it was a well-played game. I'm proud of our effort. With Reese not practicing all week and for him to come in and do what he did was big. We kind of had a talk and I told him, I don't care how may shots are missed. He's a shooter, he needs to be shooting every time he's open. It was great to see them go in. It'll help his confidence. John has been on fire lately. Three out of his last four games he's hit multiple threes to kind of help us break games open. The turnovers were a problem, but I thought the middle 30 minutes of that game, after we settled down after the first five minutes all the way up until the very end, that we did a good job of not turning it over. Once we got settled down with the turnovers, the rebounding got shored up when we made the run to start the second half. Those were two areas we knew they were really good at and we were going to have to play well and we had stretches we did pretty good job of that tonight. This is a good quality win. I mean that's a team that plays with a lot of confidence. They're one of the hardest playing teams we've seen. I played at Duke when I was at Buffalo, that's not an easy game to go in and win. For a team that went in and won for the first time in over 20 years for a non-conference team to win in Cameron, that is going to be a confident team. They came in here and I thought our defense was as good as it has been all year. I'm proud of the guys' effort tonight."
Team Stats
- Reese had a stand-out night, setting a season-high for threes made and tied a career high with eight three-point attempts
- The Tide had five players score 10-plus points. The last time this occurred was last season vs. Kentucky on Jan. 5, 2019
- As a team, the Crimson Tide established new season-best marks in blocked shots (8) and steals (11)
- After SFA held a one-point lead at the half (32-31), Alabama outscored Stephen F. Austin 46-37 in the second half
- Lewis Jr. tied his career high of four steals
- Petty has recorded five consecutive double-digit scoring games
First Half
- The game's first four minutes were a defensive struggle, with the Crimson Tide and the Lumberjacks tied at 5-5 at the 15:42 mark
- With SFA leading 19-13, the Tide used a 7-0 run to take a 20-19 lead with 6:00 left in the opening half
- After the Lumberjacks claimed a 28-27 edge, Petty drilled his third three of the game to give the Tide a 30-28 lead with 1:24 remaining in the first – the Tide's first lead of the game
- Alabama carried a 32-31 lead into halftime
- Lewis paced the Tide with seven points and four steals in the first 20 minutes
- The Crimson Tide held the Lumberjacks to just 33 percent (10-of-30) shooting in the first half
Second Half
- Alabama opened the second half with two three-pointers from Petty, giving the Tide a 38-33 advantage with 18:29 to play
- A three from Alex Reese and two free-throws from Jaden Shackelford capped off a 15-2 Alabama surge to open the half, turning a 33-32 deficit into a 47-35 Crimson Tide lead with 15:14 to go
- The Lumberjacks answered back with a 7-0 run to trim the Tide's lead to 47-42 at the 13:10 mark
- The Crimson Tide responded with a 7-0 run of its own and extended its lead to 54-42 with 10:48 to go in the contest
- Alabama maintained a double-digit lead until the final media timeout of the game, as they led 65-53 with just 3:53 left in the game
- SFA would cut the Tide's lead to 74-68 with 0:19 left, but Alabama would use free throws and defense to close out the game
- Alabama shot 50 percent (12-of-24) from the field over the final 20 minutes of action and finished at 45 percent for the game while holding the Lumberjacks to just 39 percent for the contest
The Tide will return to action on Saturday, Dec. 14, as it travels to State College, Pa., to take on Penn State. Tip-off is slated for 1 pm and will be available on the Big Ten Network.
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