Alabama Basketball tops South Carolina, 68-58 - WSFA.com: News Weather and Sports for Montgomery, AL.

Alabama men's basketball team beat South Carolina 68-58 Saturday afternoon in Coleman Coliseum. Sophomore guard Trevor Lacey led the team with 17 points to go with two steals. The Crimson Tide, which is 14-2 when getting eight or more steals in a game, is 17-8 overall and 9-3 in the Southeastern Conference.

"We're excited," UA head coach Anthony Grant said. "We're in second place in the league by ourselves, so that's a good position to be in. Today's game, to me, was a game of spurts. I didn't like the way we finished the first half, but I thought we came out in the second half and played with better energy. We built the lead back up, and obviously they cut back into it, but I thought for the most part our guys tried to do the things we asked them to do."

Alabama jumped out to a big lead early in the first half in large part due to a 17-2 run that put Alabama up 17-4. Alabama led by as much as 23 points, at 32-9 with 5:55 to go in the half before South Carolina was able to bring it back to a 35-24 halftime score.

Alabama sophomore guard Rodney Cooper scored 10 points on the night, his fifth straight game in double figures. Coming off the bench, sophomore forward Nick Jacobs also had 10 points. Sophomore guard Levi Randolph tied two career highs by grabbing nine rebounds and having four steals.

"It was good to see us play with that confidence," Grant said. "I thought the ball movement was great and we got some shots to go down, which obviously allowed us from a defensive standpoint to get in the press and be effective, and I thought it gave us energy as well."

South Carolina guard Brenton Williams led the Gamecocks with 14 points and had four steals. 

Alabama plays again Wednesday, Feb. 20, against Mississippi State in Coleman Coliseum. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. CT and the game will be televised by SEC Network and the radio broadcast will be carried on the Crimson Tide Sports Network.