Alabama's balance was good enough to beat Ole Miss' one-man show, as the Crimson Tide posted an 81-73 victory Thursday in the second round of the Southeastern Conference tournament at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn.

The Crimson Tide, led by Retin Obasohan (17 points), Riley Norris (16) and Justin Coleman and Arthur Edwards (15 each), outgunned Ole Miss guard Stefan Moody, whose 39-point performance was impressive enough to earn him applause from the Alabama fans and a hug from its coach, Avery Johnson, upon fouling out with 39 seconds remaining.

Tenth-seeded Alabama will play second-seeded Kentucky in the quarterfinals Friday.

Moody kept Ole Miss in the game until the Crimson Tide started to pull away midway through the second half thanks to a series of layups and free throws from Coleman and Obasohan.

Alabama (18-13) extended its lead to 66-52 -- its largest margin of the game -- on a 9-0 run. The sequence featured Coleman's reverse layup after a drive along the right baseline followed by his pull-up 3-pointer in transition with 8:03 left.

Still, Moody and the Rebels has a charge left.

With the Rebels trailing 66-57, Moody sank a pair of free throws, had a length-of-the-floor drive through traffic that ended with a layup, and made a pull-up 3-pointer that cut the margin to 68-62 with 4:36 left.

Norris answered with an offensive rebound and a put-back, followed by a pair of free throws, and the Rebels never seriously threatened again.

Despite shooting a blistering 55.6 percent in the first half, including 8-for-13 success on 3-pointers, Alabama managed just a 40-36 lead at the break.

The Tide wound up shooting 52.8 percent from the floor to 38.8 percent for the Rebels.