Northern Iowa N. Iowa/Alabama Alabama Men's College Basketball recap on ESPN

The sophomore guard scored 29 points and was the Crimson Tide's only effective player on offense Wednesday in a 64-56 victory over Northern Iowa in the opening round of the Puerto Rico Holiday Classic.

"Rod was the only guy who got it going and that was enough to hold them off," Alabama guard Terence Meade said.

The Crimson Tide (8-0) will meet Washington in Thursday's semifinals. The Huskies beat American University of Puerto Rico 67-47 Wednesday.

Grizzard, whose previous high was 26 points against Florida last season, was 10-for-22 from the field on a night when his team shot just 32 percent (21-for-65).

"I thought mentally, offensively, he decided he needed to score to help us, which he did," Crimson Tide coach Mark Gottfried said.

Grizzard didn't know he had set a career high until he was sitting in the stands watching the next game.

"Coach told us to keep shooting and be aggressive and I did," he said. "I don't shoot for career-highs I just want to win even if I only get two points."

Booker Warren had 16 points for Northern Iowa (2-5), which lost its third straight game and has seven games left on a 10-game road trip.

Northern Iowa coach Sam Weaver kept the locker room closed for more than 30 minutes after the game.

The Panthers, who only shot 34 percent (17-for-50), used an 11-2 run to get to 48-40 with 9:58 left, but Grizzard hit his fourth 3-pointer of the game to get the lead back to double figures.

Northern Iowa got as close as 53-46 on two free throws by Andy Woodley with 6:32 left, but Erwin Dudley made one of two free throws and Grizzard followed a Northern Iowa miss with his final 3-pointer of the game to make it 57-46 with 5:47 to play.

The Panthers closed the game with a 7-2 run.

Dudley had eight points and 16 rebounds for the Crimson Tide, who finished with a 49-39 advantage on the boards. Meade added 11 points for Alabama, while freshman Gerald Wallace had four points on 1-for-7 shooting.

"After I missed the first couple I started to rush and ended up with a bad game," Wallace said. "The tempo of the game wasn't right for us and we had a hard time shooting. It was one of those nights."

Gottfried had an explanation for the highly recruited star's off night.

"He wasn't hitting his shots and as young players do he concentrated on the missed shots rather than doing something else to help the team," Gottfried said.

Joe Breakenridge had 10 points and 11 rebounds for Northern Iowa, which beat Alabama in the season opener last season.

"We came out and lost year and didn't play well but we were a young team," Dudley said. "Really, we just wanted to come out and play hard this time and we'll come out and play hard again tomorrow."

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