Alabama 68, South Carolina 58: Trevor Lacey scored 17 points as the host Crimson Tide started fast and coasted to their third straight win.

Nick Jacobs added 10 points off the bench, all in the second half, as Alabama (17-8, 9-3 SEC) remained two games behind first-place Florida in the race for the SEC regular-season title.

Brenton Williams scored 14 points while Bruce Ellington and Laimonas Chatkevicius had 11 apiece for the floundering Gamecocks (12-13, 2-10), losers of six straight.

Rodney Cooper had a dunk and a layup on consecutive possessions to give Alabama a comfortable 32-9 lead with 5:55 left in the first half. However, South Carolina righted the ship and ended the half on an 11-0 run to get within 35-24, getting seven points from Ellington in the burst.

The Gamecocks' deficit was down to 10 points at the first media timeout of the second half, but a 12-2 surge by the Tide made it 53-33 with 11:05 left. South Carolina never got closer than the final margin in matching the program's longest losing streak since a seven-game skid in 2003.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Alabama made only 54.5 percent of its free throws, but attempted 20 more (33-13) than the Gamecocks. ... Freshman F Michael Carrera, who entered Saturday as South Carolina’s leading scorer, was held scoreless in eight minutes and committed four turnovers. ... Cooper added 10 points while Levi Randolph tied career highs with nine rebounds and four steals for the Crimson Tide.