Alabama Defeats Rattled Georgia, 77-72

Rod Grizzard scored 16 points and No. 16-ranked Alabama (15-3, 3-1) earned a rare road victory in the Southeastern Conference, beating No. 20 Georgia, 77-72, Wednesday night at Athens, Ga.

Ezra Williams had 24 points for the Bulldogs (14-3, 3-1), who were playing for the first time since entering the top-25 rankings.

Georgia got shocking news shortly before tipoff when starting forward Steve Thomas and backup point guard Tony Cole were suspended while the school investigates rape charges made by a female student.

“We’re dealing with a lot of things right now,” Williams said. “This was very difficult. You could look in [Thomas’ and Cole’s] eyes and tell they wanted to be out there.”

The Bulldogs closed within 73-72 on Chris Daniels’ two free throws with 59 seconds remaining.

Alabama won for only the third time in its last 26 conference road games.

No. 2 Florida 102, Louisiana State 70--Brett Nelson equaled his career-high with 26 points at Gainesville, Fla., and the Gators matched a school record with their 11th consecutive Southeastern Conference victory.

Orien Greene had 14 points and 11 assists, both career-highs, for the Gators (15-1, 4-0), and Udonis Haslem matched his career-high with 16 rebounds to go with his 20 points.

Florida extended its school-record winning streak to 14 games.

Ronald Dupree had 19 points for the Tigers (11-5, 1-2).

No. 5 Oklahoma 78, Nebraska 51--Ebi Ere scored 16 points at Lincoln, Neb., and the Sooners won their 13th in a row.

Oklahoma (14-1, 3-0 Big 12) held Nebraska without a field goal for 12:49 over the end of the first half and the start of the second.

Brian Conklin had 14 points for the Cornhuskers (8-7, 1-3).

No. 7 Cincinnati 89, DePaul 72--Leonard Stokes scored 24 of his career-high 36 points in the second half at Cincinnati and the Bearcats (16-1, 4-0 Conference USA) extended the nation’s longest winning streak to 16 games.

Andre Brown had 21 points for DePaul (7-8, 0-4), which has lost 21 of its last 22 against Cincinnati.

No. 21 Missouri 74, Texas A&M; 50--Wesley Stokes had 13 points at Columbia, Mo., to lead four double-figure scorers for the Tigers (13-3, 3-1 Big 12), who beat the Aggies for the sixth consecutive time.

Nick Anderson had 13 points for Texas A&M; (6-11, 0-3), which has lost 10 of 11.

WOMEN

No. 9 Kansas State 66, Texas A&M; 61--Nicole Ohlde scored 17 points at College Station, Texas, and the Wildcats (17-1, 7-0 Big 12) won their 14th in a row.

Meg Banahan had 26 points for Texas A&M; (10-6, 2-2).

No. 12 Texas 77, Oklahoma State 64--Heather Schreiber scored 16 points and the Longhorns (13-2, 5-0 Big 12) used a surge late in the first half at Stillwater, Okla., to win their sixth in a row.

Trisha Skibbe scored 13 points for Oklahoma State (9-8, 1-3).

No. 15 Texas Tech 83, No. 13 Baylor 63--Jia Perkins scored 20 points and Texas Tech withstood a late surge by Baylor at Lubbock, Texas.

Texas Tech (10-5, 2-3 Big 12) led, 48-26, at halftime and extended the lead to 30 points.

Sheila Lambert scored 24 points for Baylor (13-3, 1-3). Steffanie Blackmon and Danielle Crockrom each had 13.

No. 21 Virginia Tech 67, West Virginia 62--Chrystal Starling scored 19 points at Blacksburg, Va., and the Hokies (14-2, 5-0 Big East) won their 11th in a row.

Sherell Sowho scored 18 points to lead West Virginia (9-6, 2-3).

No. 22 Colorado 70, Kansas 35--Reserve Kate Fagan made four three-point baskets and finished with 16 points to lead Colorado (12-6, 2-3 Big 12) at Lawrence, Kan.

Kansas (5-13, 0-5) shot 24% and was outrebounded, 46-27.