The Alabama men’s basketball team led start to finish and claimed a dominant victory over Charleston Southern, 76-46, on Tuesday night in Coleman Coliseum. Three Tide players finished in double figures, led by freshman forward Braxton Key’s game-high 14 points.

“Tonight was one of our better first halves of the year,” head coach Avery Johnson said. “A lot of points of emphasis that we came into the game talking about in practice and our shoot around were executed in those areas. Fortunately, [Charleston Southern] missed some shots and they got some decent looks; but, for the most part, we had a lot of closed-window situations where they didn’t have great looks at the basket. We did a nice job in transition, we didn’t get in a bonus early in the game like we normally do, so we had a lot of good and consistent patterns of execution on both ends of the floor. I’m proud of the way the guys responded after the way we played on this last road trip and the way we practiced two days ago. They definitely turned it around tonight.”

Alabama (4-2) got out to a quick start with a 10-0 run over the first 4:46 that saw Key nail down his first two attempts from beyond the arc. The Tide didn’t let up as it used a 9-0 just a few minutes later to extend its lead to 21-5 with 9:12 left in the half. Alabama finished the half in grand fashion as it used a 15-2 run that lasted just over four minutes and stretched the lead to 36-12. The Tide took a 40-15 lead into the break, marking the largest halftime lead (25 points) since Alabama held a 24-point advantage against Illinois in the NIT on March 17, 2015.

At the midway point, Key was 5-of-7 from the field with a dozen points. Alabama shots 48 percent from the field while holding the Buccaneers to just 24 percent shooting. The Tide defense forced 11 turnovers in the opening 20 minutes while recording three steals and four blocks.

The second half was more of the same with the Tide using a 12-0 run over a span of four-plus minutes to extend its lead to 65-28 with 8:50 to play. The 37 points were Alabama’s largest lead of the game. Charleston Southern (3-3) rallied late with a 9-0 run to cut the lead to 70-42 with 2:14 on the clock, but Alabama cruised down the stretch.

Sophomore guard Avery Johnson Jr. and junior guard Ar’Mond Davis finished with 11 and 10 points, respectively, to give Alabama three players in double-figures. Redshirt freshman Dazon Ingram had nine points and a game-high four assists, while sophomore forward Donta Hall finished with six points and a game-high seven boards.

The Tide outscored Charleston Southern 28-8 in points off turnovers and forced a season-high 22 miscues. The Alabama bench was effective once again, outscoring its counterparts, 46-20. The Tide also won the rebounding battle, 41-32.

Alabama travels to Austin, Texas, on Friday, Dec. 2, to take on the Longhorns. Tipoff is set for 8:30 p.m. CT on ESPNU.

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