Balanced effort gets No. 4 Alabama by LSU

Aden Holloway finished with 19 points, four teammates also scored in double figures and No. 4 Alabama defeated LSU 80-73 on Saturday night in Tuscaloosa, Ala.Mouhamed Dioubate added 14 points, Chris Youngblood had 13, Grant Nelson had 12 and Labaron Philon posted 11 for the Crimson Tide (17-3, 6-1 Southeastern Conference).Jordan Sears scored 21 points, Cam Carter had 17 and Corey Chest paired 12 with 18 rebounds to lead the Tigers (12-7, 1-5).The start of the second half featured four lead changes and one tie before Philon’s layup and Clifford Omoruyi’s tip-in extended the Crimson Tide’s lead to 56-51 with 13:58 to go. Carter responded with a driving layup.After the scoring pace slowed down, Sears made a jumper to end a field-goal drought of over four minutes for LSU and get the Tigers within 65-60. Sears made two more shots to trim the Alabama lead to five on two more occasions.Philon and Youngblood made two free throws apiece and Dioubate had a layup and a tip-in to extend the hosts’ lead to 77-64 with 2:09 left.LSU scored seven straight points to get within six with 1:05 remaining, but Philon made two foul shots to essentially put the game out of reach.