Alabama Basketball Tops South Alabama as Jahvon Quinerly Returns

The Crimson Tide won its first road game of the 2022-23 season, defeating the Jaguars in Mobile, 65-55.

Alabama basketball earned its first road win and third overall late Tuesday night as the Crimson Tide defeated the South Alabama Jaguars 65-55 in Mobile. 

Brandon Miller led Alabama with 19 points on 4-for-9 shooting from 3-point range, while Noah Clowney finished with a game-high 15 rebounds.

Alabama had a lot of positives (along with some negatives) including the return of  Jahvon Quinerly. The senior played four minutes and secured one rebound while going 0-for-2 from the field, but fans were happy to see one of the team's leaders make his debut after rehabbing a torn ACL.

Quinerly gave a lot of praise to the trainers in the post game press conference, saying his ability to come back this early was "a testament to our efforts."

South Alabama did make a run late in the second half, and even cut the deficit to single digits, but the Crimson Tide was able to hold on. A big reason for that was a dominant performance on the glass, finishing with 63 total rebounds, including 25 on the offensive side.

The win was not pretty, however, as Alabama finished with 21 turnovers and 18 total fouls. Charles Bediako fouled out and four others finished with three fouls. 

Consequently, there's a lot for Nate Oats and the Crimson Tide to review before its next game Friday at home against Jacksonville State.

"This is a good road win," head coach Nate Oats said. "It is our first road game of the year and offensively we were not very good for large stretches of the game; way too many turnovers and didn’t hit a shot for a while there. Offensive rebounding saved us there, which it has for a good part of the year, particularly in our first game and this game so it was huge for Clowney to get eight offensive boards himself and 15 rebounds that was huge. That is why he is in the starting lineup because he plays so hard and rebounds the ball. 

"Offensively we got a lot of work to do, we just are not anywhere close on where we are going to be or need to be but defensively I give our guys a ton of credit and give South [Alabama] a lot of credit.” 

FINAL - Alabama 65, South Alabama 55

SECOND HALF

• Mark Sears makes a layup to ice the game.

• Sears splits the free throws

• South Alabama intentionally fouls, sending Mark Sears to the line.

• South Alabama cuts the lead to single digits with 50 seconds to go in the game. It's 62-53 Alabama

• Noah Gurley called for the offensive foul

• Parham makes both free throws out of the timeout for South Alabama

• Media timeout with 3:11 to go in the game. Alabama leads 62-49

• Jones makes both free throws for the Jaguars. 62-47 Alabama

• Bediako fouls out after trying to block a layup. Nick Pringle returns

• Quinerly comes out for Nimari Burnett

• Alabama calls a timeout with 4:47 to go

• Brandon Miller gets called for his third foul of the game

• Bediako splits the free throws before being subbed out for Nick Pringle

• Jahvon Quinerly makes his season debut 

• Bediako misses the free throw then gets his fourth foul of the game

• Mark Sears hits his second 3-pointer, and Bediako earns an And-1 opportunity. 58-38 Alabama going into the media timeout

• Nimari Burnett called for an offensive foul, his third

• South Alabama calls a timeout. Alabama leads 53-34

• Miller hits his third 3-pointer of the game. 51-34 Crimson Tide

• Miller hits both of his free throws, 46-32 Alabama

• Owen White hits the Jaguars second 3-pointer of the game, but Bradley immediately gets the points back.

• Moore gets anther And-1 opportunity. Misses the free throw

• South Alabama's Samuel called for a goaltend, Burnett's layup is good. 41-27 Alabama. Media timeout.

• Brandon Miller gets called for his first foul of the game. Jones splits the free throws for South Alabama

• South Alabama calls a timeout after a 7-0 run by the Tide. Score is 39-24

• Burnett hits his first 3-pointer of the game, then gets fouled on his next 3-point shot. He makes two of his three free throws. 37-24 Alabama

• Bediako gets called for a foul, his third

• Nimari Burnett gets called for the offensive foul, his second

• South Alabama starts the half with possession, and Samuel gets a putback dunk

FIRST HALF - Alabama 32, South Alabama 22

• Samuel splits the shots, and Gurley makes a 3-pointer on the other end. The half ends with with a 10-point lead for Alabama, 32-22.

• Kevin Samuel heads back to the line for South Alabama after drawing a foul on Gurley. His second 

• Moore makes both free throws, 28-21 Alabama

• Jaden Bradley gets called for his second foul before the final media timeout of the half

• Gurley knocks down the fourth 3-pointer for Alabama. 28-19 Tide

• Miller only makes one of the three free throws

• Brandon Miller gets fouled on a 3-point shot, gets up slowly at he heads to the free-throw line

• Clowney cleans up the miss out of the timeout. Isaiah Moore then draws the foul after making the layup. He misses the free throw, making the score 24-15

• Brandon Miller's jump shot extends the lead back to nine. 22-13. Media timeout

• The Jaguars hit their first 3-pointer of the game, but Clowney immediately responds with a layup. 16-9 Alabama

• Noah Gurley gets called for an offensive foul

• Noah Clowney finishes the layup off the assist from Sears

• Alabama calls timeout after failing to inbound the ball

• Bradley draws a foul right before the second media timeout

• A floater by Isaiah Moore gives South Alabama six points

• The last rebound already gives Alabama 15 for the game

• Jaden Bradley gets called for a travel

• A 6-0 run by Alabama gives the Tide a 12-4 lead heading into the first timeout of the game

• Tyrell Jones makes a layup for South Alabama, 6-4 is the score

• A foul on Charles Bediako sends Kevin Samuel to the line/ Misses both

• Miller makes both shots. Alabama is up 6-2

• Brandon Miller heads to the line after drawing the foul

• South Alabama finally scores with a layup from Isaiah Moore

• Clowney splits the free throws

• Noah Clowney draws a foul and will head to the free-throw line

• Brandon Miller makes the first basket of the game. A 3-pointer

• Nimari Burnett gets called for an offensive foul during the Tide's first possession

• South Alabama wins the opening tip

Pregame

Starting ✋ against the Jaguars#RollTide | #BlueCollarBasketball pic.twitter.com/5rCgKydmI0

— Alabama Men’s Basketball (@AlabamaMBB) November 16, 2022

Officials: Don Daily, K.B. Burdett Jr., Owen Shortt