Petty scores 23 as Tide rolls over Vanderbilt 77-62

Nashville, Tenn. (AP) — John Petty Jr. scored 23 points, including five 3-pointers, and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead Alabama to a 77-62 win at Vanderbilt on Wednesday night.

Kira Lewis Jr. added 16 points, seven rebounds and five assists for the Crimson Tide, who had four scorers in double figures.

Jaden Shackelford scored 15 points and Herbert Jones had 10. The Crimson Tide (11-7, 4-2 Southeastern Conference) improved to 2-4 on the road with its ninth win in 12 games.

Vanderbilt (8-10, 0-5) suffered its 23rd straight SEC loss, the second-longest skid in conference history. Sewanee holds the record with 24 consecutive SEC losses from 1938-40. The Commodores’ skid started under former coach Bruce Drew, who went 0-18 in the SEC last season. Vanderbilt’s last SEC win was in March 2018.

The Commodores lost their sixth straight, shooting just 31% from the floor.

Vanderbilt fell to 0-4 since losing the SEC’s leading scorer, Aaron Nesmith, to a likely season-ending right foot injury.

Vanderbilt freshman Dylan Disu set a career high with 21 points and Saben Lee had 19 points, including a 11 of 12 showing from the foul line.

Alabama made 10 shots from 3-point range and outrebounded Vanderbilt 51-32.

Scotty Pippen Jr., who scored 10 points, hit a 3-pointer from the left wing with 5:34 left in the first half, ending a streak of 37 straight misses from beyond the arc for Vanderbilt. That brought a cheer from the crowd. The Commodores’ streak of 1,080 consecutive games with at least one 3-pointer ended in Saturday’s loss to Tennessee.

Vanderbilt, UNLV and Princeton were the only schools to make at least one 3 in every game since the inception of the shot in 1986.

On Wednesday, the Commodores missed 21 of 26 shots from 3-point range.

Tide forward Javian Davis was helped off the court, favoring his right knee with 4:52 left.

Alabama shot 50% from the floor during the first 20 minutes to take a 37-31 halftime lead.

BIG PICTURE

Alabama: The Crimson Tide led most of the way to earn a badly needed road win.

Vanderbilt: The Commodores ended their 3-point drought, but the SEC skid is almost the worst in league history.

UP NEXT

Alabama hosts Kansas State (8-10) on Saturday. Kansas State’s loss to rival Kansas was marred by a bench-clearing brawl in the final seconds Tuesday.

Vanderbilt visits South Carolina on Saturday. South Carolina is second in the SEC with 7.8 steals per game.