East Tennessee St. Buccaneers vs Alabama Crimson Tide Box Score on Dec 22, 2020

Sophomore Jaden Shackelford hit a career-high eight 3-pointers while scoring a season-high 26 points and Alabama shook off East Tennessee State in the second half for an 85-69 victory Tuesday night in Tuscaloosa, Ala.

Shackelford finished two points shy of his career high after scoring just 12 points in the loss to Western Kentucky Alabama's previous outing. Jahvon Quinerly added 14 points for the Crimson Tide (5-3), and Jordan Bruner had eight points and eight rebounds.

Alabama increased a one-point halftime lead to double digits, 54-44, less than eight minutes into the second period on an Alex Reese dunk. The Crimson Tide led 62-47 just past the midpoint of the second half following a pair of Quinerly free throws.

The Buccaneers got the gap down to 64-56, but the Tide pushed the margin back to 15 points at 73-58 on a Herbert Jones three-point play with 4:20 left. The Tide's biggest lead was 85-66 in the closing seconds.

Freshman Damari Monsanto hit a season-high six 3-pointers in leading the Buccaneers (4-4) in scoring a season-best 23 points. Ledarrius Brewer added 18 points and David Sloan 14 for East Tennessee State.

Alabama went to the locker room up 36-35 after a somewhat sloppy first half that saw the hosts endure a 4:35 stretch without a field goal. The Tide came out of that drought to build a couple of five-point leads, the last at 33-28 on Keon Ellis' 3-pointer with 2:51 left in the period.

Monsanto got the Bucs back in it with his fourth 3-pointer, tying the score at 35-35 with less than 30 seconds left. Quinerly hit one of two free throws with 7.3 seconds remaining to get the Tide in front heading to the locker room.

The Tide played without starter John Petty Jr., who was held out of the game along with James Rojas for undisclosed reasons.

--Field Level Media