Mohamed Bamba had 17 points and 11 rebounds as Texas built a big lead, gave most of it back and then played its best at the end in rolling past Alabama 66-50 on Friday night at Legacy Arena in Birmingham, Ala.

Matt Coleman added 13 points for Texas (9-3). Kerwin Roach II had 11 points and Dylan Osetkowski grabbed 11 rebounds for Texas, which outshot Alabama 44.4 percent-34.4 percent for the game.

John Petty paced Alabama (8-4) with 14 points and Daniel Giddens had 10. Alabama was just 3 of 15 from 3-point range and made just five free throws (on nine attempts) as compared wito Texas' 11 in 14 tries.

The Crimson Tide played from behind for all but the first eight minutes of the game and cut the Longhorns' lead to 51-46 on a layup by Collin Sexton with 6:56 left. But Texas responded by scoring 15 of the game's next 17 points to run away with the win.

Texas led 33-21 after a dunk by Bamba with 3:35 left in the first half but went the rest of the half without a field goal to allow the Crimson Tide to get within 35-28 at halftime. Alabama reeled off seven of the half's final nine points by attacking the rim and carried a modicum of momentum into the locker room.

Roach led the Longhorns with 11 points. Bamba added 10 points and six rebounds at halftime. Petty paced Alabama with nine points in the first 20 minutes.

Both teams will take a break for Christmas before beginning their respective conference schedules. Texas returns to the court on Dec. 29 when it hosts No. 14 Kansas, and Alabama hosts No. 8 Texas A&M on Dec. 30.