No. 5 Alabama took down South Carolina on the road in convincing fashion Wednesday night 88-68.

It was a near-perfect shooting performance from Alabama point guard Mark Sears that gave the Crimson Tide an early lift to a 17-point halftime lead over the Gamecocks. Sears scored 16 points in the first half on 6-for-7 shooting and hitting on all four of his 3-pointer attempts. Sears finished the game with 22 points on 7-for-12 shooting and adding four free throws to his total

“It’s hard to win on the road, and we have to do whatever we have to do to win on the road. After seeing the first shot go in, it felt good after that,” Sears said.

Once Alabama built up its double digit lead, it never looked back. The Crimson Tide went shot-for-shot with the Gamecocks throughout the second half and kept the lead at 14 or more for the entire half.

“I thought the intensity picked up, we were able to keep the lead, and I thought we did a good job keeping them at bay for the most part,” Alabama head coach Nate Oats said.

Alabama took advantage of its depth on the bench all night, outsourcing South Carolina 39-4 in bench points. One of the guys that gave the Crimson Tide an advantage off the bench was guard Aden Holloway. Holloway scored in double figures for the fourth consecutive game, putting up 13 points on 5-for-7 shooting and making both his free throw attempts.

Alabama forward Derrion on Reid gave productive minutes off the bench, too. Reid scored nine points on 4-for-6 shooting in his 20 minutes of play. As a team, the Crimson Tide shot 55% for the game, converting on 35 of its 64 field goal attempts.

The Alabama defense rose to the occasion again Wednesday night, holding the Gamecocks to 3-for-14 (21%) from beyond the arc and 43% shooting for the game. The defense also forced 15 South Carolina turnovers and turned into 19 points.

Oats credited forward Mouhamed Dioubate for his defensive effort on projected first round NBA draft pick Collin Murray-Boyles. Dioubate held the projected NBA draft pick to just six points on 1-for-6 shooting

 “I thought Mo [Dioubate] played good defense on Murray-Boyles, it was one of the big keys of the game to be honest with you,” Oats said.

While it was not as dominant of a rebounding performance in Alabama’s previous game against Oklahoma, the Crimson Tide still won the rebound battle, out rebounding the Gamecocks 36-33, including 11 offensive rebounds.

The one concern on the night for Alabama was its performance at the free throw line. While the Crimson Tide drew 20 fouls, it only made 50% of its free throws in the game on 10-for-20 shooting from the line. Alabama started the game making just three out of its first 11 free throw attempts, but made seven of its last nine to close out the game.

“I don’t know what it was, maybe the fact that we were missing free throws made them get a little less aggressive. I did not think we got to the line as much as we should have,” Oats said.

Wednesday’s win extended Alabama’s winning streak to seven games as it moved to 13-2 on the season and 2-0 in SEC play. Alabama is just one of five teams in the SEC that has yet to lose a conference game.

Up next, Alabama will stay on the road as it heads to College Station to take on No. 10 Texas A&M Saturday. The Crimson Tide and the Aggies will tip off at 7 p.m. CT on ESPN.