Dribble Dawgs Win Streak Snapped

BASKETBALL

Alabama closed the game on a 12-4 run, overcoming a late surge by Georgia, to beat the Dawgs 52-45 Tuesday night at Stegeman Coliseum.

The loss snaps Georgia’s (12-12, 6-5) five-game conference win streak.

Georgia was led by sophomore guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope who had 22 points and seven rebounds. Sophomore forward Nemanja Djurisic also tallied 12 points.

“ We made too many errors to win the game, just made too many errors to win,” said coach Mark Fox. “Give Alabama credit, both teams defended well. At the moment of truth, they made a couple baskets, and it comes down to their offense was just better than our defense late in the game when they took the lead.”

In the first half, Georgia got the early momentum, building a 15-6 lead ten minutes into the half. Alabama (16-8, 8-3), however, responded with an 11-0 run in a three-minute span to snatch the lead, and eventually take a 25-22 lead into halftime.

In the second half, Alabama led until the 2:36 minute mark, when junior forward Donte’ Williams capped an 11-2 run with a put-back dunk to give Georgia a 41-40 lead.

Alabama responded with back-to-back three-pointers to take back the lead 46-41 with 1:36 to play. From that mark until the final horn, Georgia went one of five from the field, losing its 12th of the season.

Alabama was led by Rodney Cooper who scored 14 points.

Georgia outrebounded the Crimson Tide 41-33, but couldn’t overcome shooting just 31 percent (16-52) from the field, including 23 percent (5-22) from behind the three point arc.

Postgame Notes

Worth Noting...

• Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Vincent Williams, Donte' Williams, Brandon Morris, and John Florveus started today's game. It’s their first loss of the season (5-1).

• Georgia’s winning streak was snapped at five games.

• With his 19 points tonight, Caldwell-Pope has still scored in double figures in every game this season.

• Caldwell-Pope is one of only 11 players to score at least 10 points in every one of their team's games this season. He's the only SEC player and only one of five players from "BCS" conference schools to accomplish the feat.

•Caldwell-Pope scored 19 of Georgia’s 52 points tonight (36.5%) Caldwell-Pope ranks sixth in the nation in percentage of team's points scored. The Greenville native has scored 421 of Georgia's 1,424.

The Series: Alabama improves to 92-47 in the all-time series, including 31-27 in Athens. Georgia has now lost four straight to the Crimson Tide.

Next Up: Georgia travels to Oxford, Mississippi to play Ole Miss on Saturday at 8:00 p.m. The game is televised on ESPN2. Georgia leads the all-time series 66-39, and the series is tied 24-24 when the game is held in Oxford.