TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - There were no Alabama ghosts, ghouls or goblins in Coleman Coliseum.

But Tennessee's Chris Lofton, Tyler Smith and JaJuan Smith showed up in the form of a three-headed monster.

The No.-7 ranked Vols exorcised their demons in Rammer Jammer Land by scoring a 93-86 victory over the Crimson Tide on Tuesday night.

UT had lost 17 of its past 18 games in Coleman Coliseum over the past 25 years entering the game. The last time Tennessee won in Coleman was an 84-70 victory in 1998.

"Alabama is a huge rival and it meant something to us,'' said Bruce Pearl, who is 2-1 against the Tide since taking over as the Vols' head coach. "Our kids were very aware of the importance.''

Lofton led UT (18-2, 5-1 SEC) with 23 points, Tyler Smith posted his third double-double this season with 17 points and 11 rebounds, and JaJuan Smith scored 22 points to stop Alabama (12-9, 1-5).

The Vols won despite committing a season-high 23 turnovers and nearly squandering a 10-point second-half lead.

UT's lead shrank to 78-75 in the midst of Alonzo Gee scoring eight of his game-high 27 points in a row.

But then JaJuan Smith heated up with 4:53 remaining, hitting the first of three consecutive 3-pointers to keep the Tide at bay.

"I brought it up a few times in the huddles during the game that our luck hadn't been that good here,'' JaJuan Smith said. "I just kept preaching that we could make history.''

Lofton helped seal the win by hitting both ends of a one-and-one free-throw situation to make it 88-81 with 59.1 seconds left.

"Alabama did take it personal, and that (Tide home-court success) was a big motivator,'' said Lofton, who was 8-of-13 shooting from the floor including 5-of-9 beyond the 3-point arc. "I had never won here, and I wanted that win.''

Tyler Smith wasn't intimidated by Coleman Coliseum - with good reason, as it turned out.

"I played my AAU ball in Alabama, so I knew a lot of their guys and played here probably three times every summer,'' he said. "But our seniors hadn't won here, and we know the history follows us, so we had to get us this win.''

The teams were deadlocked at 33-33 through the first half of this ESPN-televised event.

Pearl said the Vols were playing just as aggressive and "reckless" on offense as they were on defense. That led to 12 first-half turnovers and 31-percent shooting from the floor.

"We were rushing, and I could not get them to settle down and get spacing,'' Pearl said. "The second half, with the offense in front of me, we shot 69 percent from the floor, hit nine of 12 threes and made the free throws when they mattered.''

Tennessee had led by as many as eight in the first half, going up 25-17 on JaJuan Smith's transition layup at the 9:07 mark and again on a J.P. Prince trey (28-20) with 8:28 left before intermission.

But the Tide, spurred on by a loud crowd of 11,891, battled back with a 6-0 run. Back-to-back transition baskets by Mikhail Torrance gave Alabama its first lead at 33-31 with 2:48 on the clock.

A pair of Tyler Smith free throws with 8.3 seconds remaining in the half tied the game again.

UT opened the second half on a 12-2 run and led the rest of the way despite the Tide's charge.

"I think with JaJuan Smith and Chris Lofton, you've got two guys that about break your back by the way they shoot,'' Alabama coach Mark Gottfried said. "We are disappointed obviously, but they (the Tide) absolutely played their hearts out tonight.''

The Vols return play at SEC West Division leader Mississippi State (14-5, 5-0) at 7 p.m. Saturday.

© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.