Guard James Bolden scored a game-high 23 points as Alabama defeated Southern Miss 83-68 in the seventh-place game at the Battle 4 Atlantis on Friday night in Paradise Island, Bahamas.
Bolden, a graduate transfer from West Virginia, shot 6 of 8 from 3-point range before fouling out in the last four minutes.
Kira Lewis Jr., Alabama's starting point guard, added 20 points on 7-for-11 shooting, including 4-for-7 on 3-point attempts.
In a battle between teams that each has a new coach this season, Alabama (3-4) and Nate Oats snapped a two-game losing streak.
Southern Miss (2-6) lost all three games in the Bahamas and has not defeated a Division I team this season. Golden Eagles coach Jay Ladner has returned to his alma mater -- he led Southern Miss to the 1987 NIT championship -- but it has been a struggle so far.
Gabe Watson led Southern Miss with 19 points, including a game-high 11 in the first half.
Leonard Harper-Baker, a 6-foot-5 senior forward and the only Southern Miss player to start last season and Friday, had 11 points.
Boban Jacdonmi, a 6-9 senior center who starts for Southern Miss, left the game with 6:18 remaining due to a sprained left ankle. He did not return, finishing with four points.
With the game tied 4-4 early in the first half, Alabama went on a 16-0 run, seemingly taking over the game. However, Southern Miss closed out the first half on a 23-8 run, and Alabama held a slim 38-35 lead at intermission.
Southern Miss (48.1 percent) outshot Alabama (40 percent) in the first half, but the Crimson Tide made 7 of 22 on 3-point tries while the Golden Eagles were just 1 of 9 from deep.
The Golden Eagles got even closer at the start of the second half, trailing 40-38, but that was as close as they got the rest of the game.
For the game, Alabama hit 53.8 percent from the floor to Southern Miss' 49.1 percent. The Crimson Tide ended up 15 of 33 (45.5 percent) from behind the arc while the Golden Eagles were 3 of 12 (25 percent).
--Field Level Media
