The Alabama Crimson Tide (15-8 6-4 SEC) outscored the Florida Gators 41-17 in the second half & outrebounded Florida 43-25 for the game leading to their 68-50 win in Gainesville on Saturday afternoon. The Crimson Tide scored 46 points in the paint & got 29 bench points. While the Gators (15-8 6-4 SEC), who lost their third straight SEC game & second straight game overall, went as long as five minutes without scoring a basket in the second half.
Alabama Guard Collin Sexton scored 17 points, grabbed seven rebounds & dished out six assists. Meanwhile Guard KeVaugh Allen led the Gators with 16 points.
The game started with the Gators scoring the first five points, on a dunk from Forward Keith Stone & three pointer from Allen. Meanwhile, it took nearly two minutes but the Crimson Tide finally scored their first points of the game on a dunk from Forward Donta Hall. Following that basket by Hall, the Gators got a layup from Stone. But then the teams exchanged three pointers right before the first television timeout, one from Sexton, the other from Gators Guard Egor Koulechov.
Leading 10-5, the Gators stretched the lead to 9 after free throws from Stone & a layup from Guard Jalen Hudson. But the Crimson Tide cut that lead to four after five straight points, including a layup by Hall & three pointer by Forward Braxton Key, with both baskets assisted by Sexton. The Gators erased that three pointer by Key when Allen hit three free throws after being fouled shooting a three pointer. But other than a free throw from Sexton, both teams went nearly three minutes without scoring again.
The teams exchanged baskets until with under 9 minutes left in the first half when Stone scored five points in six seconds, first on a three pointer then a layup. The layup pushed the lead to 9 again but another Stone's free throw gave the Gators a 25-15 lead. But before the Gators could build on that double digit lead, Sexton added a couple of layups & assisted on a dunk by backcourt mate Dazon Ingram. And after a layup by Guard Chris Chiozza, Sexton drained a three pointer, cutting the Gators lead to three, 27-24.
The remaining minutes of the first half saw both teams struggle offensively, with the Gators scoring six points & the Crimson Tide scoring just three points in the last five minutes. Both teams went over two minutes without scoring a basket & after Koulechov hit a layup to make the score 33-26, the only point scored by both teams before the end of the half was a free throw from Alabama Guard Avery Johnson.
The first half was the battle of two guards with Florida's Stone leading all scorers with 12 points while Sexton was right on his heels with 11 to lead Alabama. But trailing by six to start the second half, the Crimsin Tide scored eight straight points in just over two minutes forcing Gators Head Coach Mike White to take a timeout. After the timeout, it took the Gators three more possessions before Allen hit a layup, tying the score at 35 & giving Florida their first points of the second half. Allen added a three pointer after a Crimson Tide basket, giving the Gators a 38-37 lead.
It took 60 seconds after that Allen three pointer, but the next basket by Alabama started a 16-5 run that lasted nearly eight minutes, with Sexton scoring four points & Johnson hitting a three pointer. The run also led to the Crimson Tide grabbing a 54-43. But that 11 point Alabama lead would increase to 15 after Sexton assisted on a layup by Key with just under eight minutes left in the game. In the final seven minutes of the game, the Crimson Tide would add 14 more points to finish the second half scoring 41 points. Meanwhile, after getting a basket from Allen, the Gators scored just five points in the final seven minutes. And after a layup by Koulechov, the Gators scored just one more point in the final five plus minutes of the game.
The Gators will look to end their losing streak when they head to Baton Rouge on Wednesday night to take on another conference foe LSU at 6:30pm.