QUEENS, N.Y. – The No. 15/16 Alabama men’s basketball team took its first road trip of the season, and came away with a 103-96 victory over No. 5/6 St. John’s Red Storm inside Madison Square Garden on Saturday afternoon.

Labaron Philon Jr. broke his career-high in points for the second straight game, finishing his day with 25 points, shooting 10-for-17 from the field, including a pair of three-pointers. Aden Holloway shined as well with 21 points, shooting 9-for-18 from the field, to go along with four assists in his season-debut

The Tide had two others in double figures, including Talyor Bol Bowen and Latrell Wrightsell Jr. with 17 points apiece. Bol Bowen also shined in the rebounding effort as well, nearly achieving a double-double with nine rebounds to go with two blocks and two steals.

St. John’s was led offensively by Zuby Ejiofor who finished his day with 27 points, shooting 9-for-12 from the field, including two three-pointers and 9-for-13 shooting from the free throw line. Ejiofor was one of four players in double figures for the Red Storm, including Bryce Hopkins (19 points), Oziyah Sellers (14 points), and Ian Jackson (14 points).

Head Coach Nate Oats Postgame Comments 

“Thank you to Coach Pitino for giving us this opportunity. This is the ‘Mecca of Basketball,’ this is my first time coaching here. He doesn’t have to play a tough schedule, I know we’ve obviously been pretty good the last five years or so, so tough thing for allowing us to come and play the game. He’s got one of the best teams in the country, they’ll be one of the best teams when it comes down to it. Whether we won or lost, this was great for us.

“I think our guys stepped up to the challenge. They’re one of the toughest teams; I think (Zuby) Ejiofor was the leading offensive rebounder in the country last year and he’s the preseason Big East Player of the Year. He had 27 points and 10 rebounds with five offensive rebounds, so he did his deal. Probably the best thing we did outside of making tough plays was that we took care of the ball. Our backcourt had two turnovers on the day; we had seven as a team and five came from the frontcourt. I thought the guards did a great job handling the pressure on the press and the super physical half court. The only thing standing out that we really need to work on is guarding without fouling. It’s hard to win games when the other team doubles you at the free throw yard line. They had 40 free throws we only had 22. We made tough plays; we just have to figure out how to do it without fouling going forward.”

Team Stats 

• The victory on Saturday marked Nate Oats‘ eighth win against an AP Top-5 opponent and his 10^th AP Top-25 win on the road
• Nate Oats‘ squad scored the most points against St. John’s in the Rick Pitino era, and became the first non-conference team to score 100 or more points against the Red Storm since 2004
• The game saw 18 lead changes and seven different ties throughout the day
• Aden Holloway and Latrell Wrightsell Jr. combined for 38 points in their season-debuts for Alabama
• Taylor Bol Bowen (9) and Amari Allen (10) played a huge role in Alabama’s rebounding effort, combining for 19 rebounds between the two
• The Crimson Tide scored 54 of its 103 points in the paint (52 percent)
• Throughout the matchup, Alabama led for 32:04 compared to 5:20 for St. John’s
• As a team, Alabama shot 39-for-81 (48 percent) from the field, 11-for-35 (31 percent) from deep and 14-for-22 (64 percent) from the charity stripe

First Half  

• Both teams didn’t give an inch throughout the first half, having 12 lead changes and six different ties
• The Crimson Tide took advantage of late momentum to close the half, however, going on a 16-6 run to take a 53-44 lead at the break
• The 53 points scored by the Crimson Tide are the most that the Red Storm have allowed in a half under head coach Rick Pitino
• Aden Holloway led Alabama in scoring with 15 points, shooting 6-for-9 from the field, including a pair of three-pointers
• The Red Storm got to the free throw line effectively in the half, shooting 19-for-23 from the stripe, compared to the Crimson Tide shooting 5-for-7 from the line
• Nate Oats‘ squad led the rebounding battle 21-18 over the Red Storm, with Taylor Bol Bowen grabbing seven
• The Crimson Tide bench put up 11 points in the frame, with Latrell Wrightsell having nine of them
• As a team, Alabama shot 20-for-41 (49 percent) from the field and 8-for-20 (40 percent) from three

Second Half  

• The Red Storm cut the Alabama lead to just two points before the Crimson Tide responded with a 9-0 run across 1:15 to create its largest lead of the game with 15:18 to go (69-58)
• St. John’s responded with a 15-6 run over a span of 3:46 to take an 81-80 lead, its first lead since 4:27 left in the first half
• Both squads battled down the stretch for the lead, but a 17-9 run through the final 6:09 of the game sealed the victory for the Tide
• Labaron Philon led all scorers in the second half with 15 points, shooting 6-for-8 from the field
• Alabama forced 11 points off seven Red Storm turnovers in the half
• The Tide got to the line much more effectively in the second half, having 15 attempts from the stripe compared to just seven attempts in the first half
• As a unit, the Crimson Tide shot 19-for-40 (48 percent) from the floor, 3-for-15 (20 percent) from three and 9-for-15 (60 percent) from the free throw line

Up Next 

• Alabama will return home next week to take on the No. 1/1 Purdue Boilermakers on Thursday, Nov. 13
• Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. CT inside Coleman Coliseum and can be seen on ESPN2