Freshman guard Jaden Shackelford poured in a season-high 28 points, fueling Alabama basketball to a 90-78 win over Richmond on Sunday evening inside Coleman Coliseum. The victory extended the Crimson Tide’s winning three to three games and marked its third straight game with 90 or more points — the first time Alabama had accomplished that feat since the 2000-01 season.

Alabama (7-5) won for the fifth time in its last six games and finished the month of December with a 4-1 record.

"I thought it was a good win,” Alabama head coach Nate Oats said. “Sometimes you worry about the last game going into Christmas or the first game coming out of Christmas — if you are going to be sharp and locked in. I thought we played well in both of them.

“Richmond is a quality team, they've been playing well, their record is great. We didn't have the greatest start to the game, which isn't typical, we have been having some pretty good starts. The start wasn't good today, I didn't think we closed the half well. We challenged them at halftime to make sure our start to the second half was better and I thought we were a lot better. I thought we had multiple guys play pretty well.”

Shackelford scored 14 of his 28 points in each half and knocked down a season-best six three-pointers to help the Tide grab an early lead it never relinquished. In addition, junior forward Herbert Jones recorded his first career double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds to finish as one of four in double figures.

“Herb is getting better every game, if he can stay out of foul trouble,” Oats said. “When he's not in foul trouble, like last game, he played 38 minutes or something. His value shows when he's healthy and he's getting much healthier for us. This was the first game he hasn't worn the elbow brace. I thought he looked pretty good. It was the first double-double of his career, which is shocking to me. I think he should be a double-double machine if he's healthy and out of foul trouble.

“Hopefully like (John) Petty, who didn't have any double doubles for 76 straight games and then he gets three out of the next five games. Hopefully Herb starts going on a tear here with a bunch of double-doubles. I did challenge him before the game and told him, ‘You should be tired of JP leading the team in rebounding, you've got to go get some rebounds! He did, so it was good. I was happy with the effort our guys gave."

Petty continued his hot streak by reaching double figures for the eighth time in his last nine games finishing with 17 points, six rebounds and four assists, while sophomore Kira Lewis Jr. added 17 points and four assists in the victory.

Richmond was led by Jacob Gilyard's 21 points, while Grant Golden finished with 14 points, 11 rebounds, and three assists.

Contact Andrew Bone for all of your real estate needs; buyers, sellers, investors, developers. Property management; BoneHomeTours.com Call 205-531-5577 or click here