Four players scored in double figures Saturday as No. 4 Alabama made it eight straight wins, all by double digits, with an 85-64 Southeastern Conference decision over short-handed host Missouri in Columbia, Mo.
Noah Clowney paced the Crimson Tide (17-2, 7-0 SEC) with 17 points and 14 rebounds, while Mark Sears added 17 points and eight rebounds. Freshman Brandon Miller scored 15 points despite making only 4 of 12 shots. Jahvon Quinerly netted 13.
Isiaih Mosley scored a season-high 19 points for the Tigers (14-5, 3-4) and DeAndre Gholston added 10 before fouling out. Missouri simply couldn’t make enough shots, canning just 23 of 70 from the field and 3 of 28 on 3-pointers. At one point, it was 1 of 20 from the 3-point line.
With the Tigers constantly misfiring, Alabama didn’t have to light it up. It made only 25 of 68 attempts from the field, including 10 of 35 on 3-pointers, but the Tide earned a 53-45 advantage on the boards and turned 16 offensive rebounds into 21 points.
The Tide took over sole possession of first place in the SEC with their win and Texas A&M’s 76-67 loss earlier Saturday at Kentucky.
The main storyline prior to opening tip was that Missouri’s Kobe Brown, its leading scorer and rebounder at 15.7 and 5.6, was held out with an ankle injury. Tigers coach Dennis Gates said the decision to sit Brown was due to precautionary reasons.
But Missouri was able to hang around for a half because of Mosley, the Missouri Valley Conference scoring champ last season at Missouri State. He just returned to the lineup Wednesday night after a six-game absence for what Gates called undisclosed reasons.
Mosley supplied eight points in the first half, helping the Tigers grab a 16-13 lead just past the midway point. But Alabama emerged from a 23-23 tie late in the half, using a jumper and a 3-pointer from Quinerly to spur a 7-0 burst that gave it a 38-28 cushion at the break.
–Field Level Media
