Field Level Media
Jan 29, 2020
Emmitt Williams and Trendon Watford had double-doubles as No. 22 LSU rolled to a 20-point first-half lead and defeated visiting Alabama 90-76 in an SEC game Wednesday night.
Williams had 23 points and 11 rebounds and Watford had 17 points and 15 rebounds as the Tigers outrebounded the Crimson Tide 49-31. Skylar Mays added 18 points and Darius Days and Javonte Smart scored 12 each.
LSU, which returned to the Top 25 on Monday for the first time in 10 weeks, won its ninth straight to improve to 16-4 overall, 7-0 in the SEC.
Jaden Shackelford scored 21, Alex Reese had 17 and Kira Lewis Jr. had 13 to lead Alabama. John Petty, the seventh-leading scorer in the SEC with an average of 16.4 points per game, came off the bench for the Tide and scored four points on 1-for-7 shooting.
The Crimson Tide, who had won their last four games, are 12-8 and 4-3.
Shackelford started the second-half scoring by making a 3-pointer and added another 3 moments later to pull Alabama within 55-43.
The Tide got within nine points, but Mays scored on a layup, Aundre Hyatt dunked and Marlon Taylor made a layup to give the Tigers a 68-53 lead with 12 minutes remaining.
Petty dunked for his only field goal of the game, and that cut the lead to 70-61 with 9:24 left, but Williams answered with a jumper for his first basket of the second half.
LSU maintained a double-digit lead the rest of the way to get its first win by more than four points in their last seven.
Days made back-to-back 3-pointers as LSU took a 14-7 lead.
Reese and Shackelford made 3-pointers and Davis converted a three-point play as Alabama pulled even at 16.
LSU took a 29-25 lead before Williams took over as Alabama went into a scoring drought.
Williams scored the final 10 points of a 14-0 run that gave the Tigers a 43-35 lead. The Tide went nearly five minutes without scoring.
Jaylen Forbes' layup ended Alabama's drought, but LSU rebuilt the lead to 20 before taking a 51-33 halftime lead.
--Field Level Media