TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Levi Randolph scored 23 points, Ricky Tarrant added 18 and Shannon Hale finished with 12 points and 11 rebounds to lead Alabama to an 81-67 win against Southern Mississippi on Thursday night.
Alabama led from start to finish, building up a 19-point advantage in the second half when Tarrant buried a three-point shot to put the Crimson Tide up 77-58 with 2 minutes, 30 seconds to go. After taking an eight-point halftime lead, Alabama (3-0) led comfortably throughout the second half.
Randolph scored 15 of the Crimson Tide’s first 19 points and Alabama took a 22-14 lead when Michael Kessens hit a 3-pointer a little more than six minutes in.
Both teams started out shooting the ball well. Alabama didn’t miss a shot from the field until around the 14-minute mark.
After a short breather, Randolph returned to the lineup and immediately buried a 3-pointer to give the Crimson Tide a 29-19 advantage with 9:26 left.
Southern Miss (2-1) stayed close, as Matt Bingaya scored his 11th point to pull the Golden Eagles within 29-24, but a 3-pointer by Justin Coleman pushed the Crimson Tide lead back to 34-24, with 6:47 left.
Shannon Hale made two free throws to give Alabama a 38-30 halftime lead.
“Levi got us off to an outstanding start,” Alabama coach Anthony Grant said. “He came out tonight and got it going. It’s great to see him get into a rhythm and a flow like that and it’s great to see his teammates find him and create those opportunities. He got us off to a great start and I think our team just followed from there.
“Luckily we were able to shoot a high percentage (57.1 percent from the field and 47.4 percent from beyond the arc). Some nights the ball goes in and some nights it doesn’t.
“I really like our team. We have the potential to be really good but we have to understand that things have to go our way.”
Bingaya had 19 points and Norville Carey 17 points for Southern Miss.
“(Alabama) shot the ball extremely well,” Southern Miss coach Doc Sadler said. “They got good shots and made it difficult on the defensive end for us to get stops back-to-back-to back. You can’t win when you shoot 29 shots from 3, and that’s what we did. Maybe that’s what they forced us to do. Fortunately we were making some shots too. The difference in the game was when we quit making them.”
TIP-INS
Crimson Tide: Randolph had 18 points at the half, making six of his seven field goal attempts and going three for three from three-point range and three for three from the foul line. .Alabama holds a 21-5 lead in the all-time series with Southern Miss and a 15-2 advantage when playing in Tuscaloosa. .Alabama came into the game with balanced scoring with four players averaging in double-figures. .It was announced prior to the game that freshman forward Jeff Garrett will redshirt the 2014-15 season.
Golden Eagles: Bingaya scored 13 points in the first half making five of his eight shots from the field and three of his five three-point attempts. .Southern Mississippi, 29-7 last year, has averaged 27 wins a season for the last three years and is one of 11 teams to win at least 25 games in three consecutive years. .SMU has never won in Coleman Coliseum, dropping to 0-7
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 36 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.