Mark Sears and the fifth-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide got hot early and took down the South Carolina Gamecocks, 88-68, Wednesday night at Colonial Life Arena in Columbia.
Led by 16 first-half points from Sears, Alabama (13-2 overall) dominated the Gamecocks (10-5, 0-2 conference) for most of the night to improve to 2-0 in SEC play. Sears was a perfect 5-for-5 with 13 points in the first 10-plus minutes to start the game. He would go on to finish the night with 22 points.
Mo Dioubate gave Alabama its first double-digit lead when he drew a foul off a layup for a three-point play that made it 28-16 — part of a 14-2 Crimson Tide run capped by a Dioubate dunk.
Alabama kept the lead at double digits for the rest of the half. Chris Youngblood sank a 3-pointer to make it 42-24 with a minute to play, and Sears capped off his hot start with a 3-pointer from the corner for a 19-point lead — the largest of the half.
The Crimson Tide led 45-28 at intermission. They shot 60 percent from the field in the game’s first 20 minutes, making 18 of 30 shots overall, including 6-of-11 from behind the arc. Sears was a perfect 4-for-4 from downtown in the first half.
Nate Oats subbed out all five starters after Alabama allowed nine points in six possessions to open the second half. A livid Oats called a timeout and was halfway to mid-court to sternly lecture freshman Derrion Reid before the referees had finished blowing their whistles.
There wasn’t a whole lot else for Oats to complain about on this night, although Alabama fell into a three-minute scoring drought midway through the half as South Carolina whittled the lead to 15 with 6:30 to play.
But Alabama finished strong, with Sears finding Reid for an alley-oop dunk and a 79-58 dunk with 3:22 to play. Alabama’s 21-point lead was its largest of the game.
Sears had help from Aden Holloway, who scored nine of 10 points for Alabama at one point earlier in the second half. Holloway’s 13 points off the bench made him the Tide’s second leading scorer. Alabama got 10 points from Clifford Omoruyi, who briefly left the game in the first half after taking a shot to the eye.
Alabama’s bench outscored South Carolina’s, 39-4. The Tide closed the night shooting 54.7 percent from the field and 42.1 percent from downtown.
UP NEXT
The Crimson Tide will take on the No. 9 Texas A&M Aggies (12-2) Saturday night in College Station. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. CT. The game will be televised on ESPN.
Contact/Follow us @RollTideWire on X and like our page on Facebook for ongoing coverage of Alabama news and notes plus opinions.