ATHENS, Ga. (AP) Channing Toney scored 16 points and Georgia used a 14-0 run to beat Alabama A&M 71-54 Wednesday night for its first win of the season.
Georgia (1-2) led 18-17 after A&M's Brandon Neloms hit a 3-pointer with 9:48 left in the first half. A&M (1-3) failed to score during the next six and a half minutes and Georgia built a 32-17 lead, capped by an Alex Evans layup with 3:30 to go.
Georgia's Younes Idrissi scored four of those points and angered A&M's Joe Martin with his shot-blocking. The two went chest to chest for a few seconds, but a technical foul on the Alabama A&M bench calmed things down.
Idrissi had four blocked shots in the first half, helping Georgia to a 38-24 lead at intermission. Idrissi blocked one more shot in the second half.
A 3-pointer by Toney and a steal and layup by Sundiata Gaines helped Georgia bolt to a 19-point edge less than a minute into the second half. But Martin scored three straight baskets in less than a minute as the Southwestern Athletic Conference Bulldogs closed to 54-47 with 8:47 to play.
Georgia went to a zone defense in the final minutes and stymied the visitors, and reserve forward Corey Gibbs scored three baskets on putbacks to help the Southeastern Conference Bulldogs pull away again.
Obie Trotter led A&M with 17 points, and Martin added 13.
Levi Stukes scored 15 points for Georgia and Dave Bliss had 10 rebounds.
