National Basketball Association
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Alabama 78, South Carolina Upstate 61
When: 8:00 PM ET, Thursday, December 15, 2016
Where: Coleman Coliseum, Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Officials: # Tony Greene, # Brian Shey, # Ron Groover
Attendance: 9773

Donta Hall scored a career-high 15 points as Alabama beat South Carolina Upstate 78-61 at home on Thursday.

Alabama (5-4) was coming off back-to-back losses to Texas and Oregon, but looked like a different team against the Spartans.

The Crimson Tide shot 58.6 percent from the floor in the first half -- 71.4 percent from inside the arc -- en route to taking a 39-26 halftime lead.

While it cooled off slightly in the second half, Alabama still finished the night making 25 of its 38 two-point attempts, a 65.7 percent clip.

That was too much for the Spartans (7-6) to overcome. South Carolina Upstate was outrebounded 44-33 and turned the ball over 13 times while seeing its three-game winning streak come to an end.

The Spartans jumped on top in the opening minutes, but a 12-0 run gave the Tide a 14-5 lead with 13:16 to play in the first half. Upstate came back to get within 20-19, but a 9-0 run gave Alabama more breathing room, and the visitors never got that close again.

Braxton Key added 10 points and nine rebounds for Alabama, while Corban Collins scored 10 points of his own. Bola Olaniyan pulled down a career-high 10 rebounds.

Malik Moore led South Carolina Upstate with 14 points. Mike Cunningham had 13, while Michael Buchanan barely missed a double-double with 10 points and nine rebounds.
Top Game Performances
 
South Carolina Upstate   Alabama
Malik Moore 14 Scoring Donta Hall 15
Mike Cunningham 3 Assists Braxton Key 5
Michael Buchanan 9 Rebounds Bola Olaniyan 10
Michael Buchanan 4 Free Throws Made Donta Hall 3
Michael Buchanan 1 Steals Ar'Mond Davis 1
Philip Whittington 1 Blocks Jimmie Taylor 2
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
South Carolina Upstate 61 34.4 10-33 9-16 9 29 1 3 13
Alabama 78 53.4 6-20 10-18 16 41 4 3 10