Labaron Philon scored 23 points, hitting a trio of key shots down the stretch, to lead No. 18 Alabama to an 83-81 win over Oklahoma on Saturday in a Southeastern Conference game in Norman, Okla.
Philon’s final bucket came in the last minute as he drove baseline, hitting a high reverse layup through a foul by the Sooners’ Kirill Elatontsev to put the Crimson Tide up by three points with 20 seconds remaining.
Philon hit the free throw to extend the lead to two possessions. But the game was far from over.
Houston Mallette missed the first of two free throws with 13.2 seconds left to lead the door open for Oklahoma (11-7, 1-4) .
Alabama (13-5, 3-2) decided to foul while up three points on back-to-back possessions, and it came back to bite them.
The Crimson Tide waited too long to foul Xzayvier Brown with 7.2 seconds remaining, and when Philon finally fouled Brown, the Sooners’ guard already was elevating for the shot.
Brown sank his first two free throws, but the third went off the rim twice before bouncing away to keep Alabama in front.
The Sooners had one last chance, following a missed free throw, but Nijel Pack’s 3-pointer at the buzzer missed the mark to end the game.
Alabama missed 10 second-half free throws but outscored Oklahoma 50-37 after the break to win for the second consecutive time while the Sooners dropped their fourth straight game.
With 5:38 left, Brown lobbed the ball to Derrion Reid for a tip-in alley-oop to put the Sooners up 71-67. Reid crashed to the floor, though, and soon was helped to the locker room with an apparent right leg injury.
Brown hit a jumper to stretch Oklahoma’s lead to six with 4:51 left before Philon hit 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions to tie the game.
Reid returned with the Sooners down two with 18 seconds remaining.
Aiden Sherrell scored 21 points on 8-of-12 shooting from the field, with nine rebounds, to help lead the Crimson Tide.
Brown led the Sooners with 21 points while Reid added 16 points and nine rebounds, and Jadon Jones had seven points, four steals and a career-high four blocks.
–Field Level Media
