Tide Wins 200th For Mark Gottfried

LAHAINA, Hawaii – The Alabama Crimson Tide defeated the Chaminade Silverswords, 78-56, in the consolation round of the EA Sports Maui Invitational in men’s basketball action Tuesday afternoon at the Lahaina Civic Center on the island of Maui. The victory gave Mark Gottfried his 200th win as head coach of the Crimson Tide, becoming the fourth coach in UA history to win 200 games at The Capstone.

With the win, Alabama improved to 2-2 on the season, while Chaminade dropped to 0-2. Alabama is 1-1 in the tournament after having lost the opener to Oregon.

Alabama returns to action Wednesday at 1 p.m. Central Time (9 a.m. in Hawaii) against St. Joseph’s (2-2), an 80-54 winner over Indiana in the other consolation round game earlier on Tuesday. Wednesday’s Alabama-St. Joseph’s game will be televised nationally on ESPN2.

For the second straight game, sophomore wing Senario Hillman scored a career-high with a game-high 22 points to lead the Tide while senior wing Alonzo Gee added 12 points and 7 rebounds. Darrell Birton led Chaminade with 16 points.

Gottfried now has a 200-125 record in his 11th season with the Crimson Tide. With 200 wins at Alabama, Gottfried joined an exclusive club of 200 game winners at Alabama. Wimp Sanderson (267), Hank Crisp (264) and C.M. Newton (211) are the only other coaches in school history to reach the 200-win mark with the Tide.

Alabama senior point guard Ronald Steele is rapidly approaching the exclusive 1,000 point club. With 9 points against Chaminade in limited action, Steele enters the St. Joseph’s game with 982 career points. Forty-one current or former members of the Crimson Tide have reached the milestone. Teammate Alonzo Gee eclipsed the mark last season and currently sits 36th on the all time UA scoring list. Mark Gottfried ranks 41st with 1,056 points.

Wednesday’s clash with St. Joseph’s will be only the second meeting between the two schools. St. Joseph’s defeated Alabama, 74-69, in the lone previous meeting in the 1996 NIT Semifinals at Madison Square Garden in New York.