Athens, Ga. — With Georgia stunned by the suspension of two players, Alabama took advantage to win a rare road game in the Southeastern Conference.
Rod Grizzard scored 16 points and made a key defensive play in the final minute Wednesday night as the 16th-ranked Crimson Tide held on for a 77-72 victory over No. 20 Georgia.
Alabama (15-3, 3-1) won for only the third time in its last 26 conference road games. It was also the Tide's first victory in an SEC East arena since 1995.
Before he stepped to the line to hit the clinching free throws, former walk-on Antoine Pettway told teammate Kenny Walker, "I'm going to get the monkey off our back."
Georgia, playing for the first time since entering The Associated Press rankings, learned just before the game that starting forward Steve Thomas and backup point guard Tony Cole would be suspended while the school investigates rape charges made by a female student.
"We're dealing with a lot of things right now," said Ezra Williams, who led Georgia with 24 points. "This was very difficult. You could look in their eyes and tell they wanted to be out there."
Alabama led the entire game, though it took the big defensive play with less than a minute remaining to seal the victory.
The Bulldogs (14-3, 3-1) closed to 73-72 on Chris Daniels' two free throws with 59 seconds remaining. Grizzard missed an off-balance shot in the lane for Alabama, but Erwin Dudley scored on a putback.
The Bulldogs came down with a chance to tie on a three-pointer, only to be denied a shot. Grizzard knocked the ball away from Jarvis Hayes, Pettway recovered it and was fouled.
The sophomore guard calmly knocked down two free throws with 24 seconds remaining.
No. 2 Florida 102,
LSU 70
Gainesville, Fla. Brett Nelson equaled his career-high with 26 points to help Florida beat LSU and match a school record with its 11th straight Southeastern Conference victory. Orien Greene had 14 points and 11 assists, both career-highs, for the Gators (15-1, 4-0), while Udonis Haslem matched his career-high with 16 rebounds to go with his 20 points. Florida shot 60 percent from the field and extended its school-record winning streak to 14 games.
No. 7 Cincinnati 89, DePaul 72
Cincinnati Leonard Stokes scored 24 of his career-high 36 points in the second half and the Bearcats (16-1, 4-0 Conference USA) extended the nation's longest winning to 16 games. Andre Brown had 21 points for DePaul (7-8, 0-4), which has lost 21 of its last 22 against Cincinnati. Before the game, Cincinnati backed off its two-game ban for a reporter who got into an argument with coach Bob Huggins before practice last week. The Cincinnati Post beat writer showed up and was allowed to stay.
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