TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Sophomore forward Tony Mitchell and senior guard Charvez Davis each scored a game-high 21 points Monday night to lead the University of Alabama men”s basketball team to an 83-41 victory against Toledo at Coleman Coliseum.
Junior forward JaMychal Green added 14 points and eight rebounds, while senior guard Senario Hillman scored nine points to go along with a game-high five assists for the Crimson Tide (8-6).
“I thought this was a good win and we played really well in the second half,” Alabama coach Anthony Grant said. “We were a little shorthanded, so that was a challenge for our team tonight. We wanted to be sure we were sharp and that we took care of the basketball. I think we lost our focus there in the first half, but we did a good job of picking up our intensity in the second half.”
Alabama improved to 8-0 at home this year. It forced a season-high 25 turnovers, and held Toledo (3-11) to a season-low five assists.
The Crimson Tide enjoyed a 36-13 advantage in points off turnovers, a 33-14 edge in points, and had 21 assists, its second highest output of the year.
Mitchell, who also added eight rebounds to go with his 21 points, came within two points of matching his career-high. Davis, who was 6 of 8 from beyond the 3-point arc, came within just one point of matching his career-best with the fifth most accurate performance from the 3-point arc in school history.
In the past three games versus Lipscomb, Pepperdine and Toledo, Davis is 16 of 24 (67 percent) shooting 3-pointers and is averaging 19.3 points.
“I”ve been really concentrating and trying to give our team energy,” Davis said. “The guys did a good job finding me.”
After taking a 44-24 lead at intermission, the Crimson Tide picked up right where it left off, opening the second stanza with a 14-0 run to take a 58-24 lead at the 14-minute, 15-second mark.
The 42-point margin of victory is the largest of the Grant era, besting the previous high of 39 set in the opening game of the season on Nov. 12 versus Florida A&M. It is also the Crimson Tide”s largest since a 50-point margin in a 99-49 win against Coppin State on Dec. 23, 2006.
Alabama hit 11 of its first 13 shots and built a 30-9 lead in the first 9:18. Davis scored 12 points during the stretch, including 3 of 3 from beyond the arc, while Mitchell added 10 points. Alabama used separate runs of 10-2 and 15-0 in building the lead as Toledo mustered just six shots from the field and turned the ball over nine times.
Sophomore guard Andrew Steele”s scored his first basket of the season, draining a 3-pointer from the wing toward the end of the first half.
“You could see the smile on Andrew”s face,” Grant said. “He was really happy to be out there. It is hard to not play for as long as he has. He is still trying to get comfortable offensively. It was good to see him go out there contributing tonight.”
Alabama will travel to Starkville on Saturday to open SEC play against Mississippi State at 3 p.m. at Humphrey Coliseum. It will return to Coleman Coliseum on Jan. 12 to play host to South Carolina.
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