GREENVILLE, S.C. — Raegan Beers had 20 points and 11 rebounds, Payton Verhulst added 16 points and No. 10 Oklahoma battled back from a 10-point second-half deficit to beat No. 12 Kentucky 69-65 on Friday and advance to the SEC Tournament semifinals.

Sahara Williams chipped in with 13 points for Oklahoma, which has won nine straight.

The Sooners (25-6) will face two-time defending Southeastern Conference champion and fifth-ranked South Carolina, an 84-63 winner over Vanderbilt, on Saturday.

Georgia Amoore scored 29 points and Clara Strack added 12 points and 16 rebounds to lead Kentucky (22-7).

The teams finished tied for fourth in the SEC, but the Wildcats beat the Sooners 95-86 to earn the head-to-head tiebreaker and a double bye in the tournament. In that game Amoore had a career-high 43 points on seven 3-pointers, so finding a way to stop Kentucky’s point guard was a point of emphasis for Sooners coach Jennie Baranczyk.

Amoore was 12 of 27 from the field.

Neither team led by more than five in the first half, but Amoore’s first 3-pointer of the game midway through the third quarter gave Kentucky a 10-point lead. Verhulst’s back-to-back 3s from the top of the key allowed the Sooners to take a 50-49 lead into the fourth quarter.

Takeaways

Oklahoma: Despite playing their second game in two days, the Sooners looked stronger down the stretch than the more well-rested Wildcats.

Kentucky: Finished 4 of 23 from 3-point range. Amoore was just 3 of 8, with two of those coming in the final minute.

Key moment

Skylar Vann’s cutting layup gave Oklahoma a 64-59 lead with 1:32 left.

Key stat

The Sooners won despite shooting 31% from the field.

Up next

While Oklahoma moves on to play its third game in three days, Kentucky will await its NCAA Tournament seed.

Associated Press

Denver Nuggets (41-22, third in the Western Conference) vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (52-11, first in the Western Conference)

Oklahoma City; Sunday, 1 p.m. EDT

BOTTOM LINE: Denver visits the Oklahoma City Thunder after the Nuggets took down the Phoenix Suns 149-141 in overtime.

The Thunder are 10-3 in division matchups. Oklahoma City scores 119.4 points and has outscored opponents by 12.8 points per game.

The Nuggets are 6-4 against the rest of their division. Denver is fourth in the league with 45.9 rebounds per game. Nikola Jokic leads the Nuggets with 12.9.

The Thunder are shooting 47.8% from the field this season, 1.4 percentage points higher than the 46.4% the Nuggets allow to opponents. The Nuggets score 14.9 more points per game (121.5) than the Thunder allow their opponents to score (106.6).

TOP PERFORMERS: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is averaging 32.8 points, 5.1 rebounds, 6.2 assists and 1.8 steals for the Thunder. Jalen Williams is averaging 21 points and 5.4 assists over the past 10 games.

Jokic is scoring 28.9 points per game with 12.9 rebounds and 10.6 assists for the Nuggets. Jamal Murray is averaging 26.1 points and 2.8 rebounds while shooting 53.1% over the past 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Thunder: 8-2, averaging 126.3 points, 45.4 rebounds, 30.3 assists, 9.3 steals and 6.2 blocks per game while shooting 49.2% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 116.9 points per game.

Nuggets: 7-3, averaging 124.6 points, 46.0 rebounds, 32.2 assists, 7.5 steals and 4.0 blocks per game while shooting 51.7% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 119.3 points.

INJURIES: Thunder: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: day to day (rest), Chet Holmgren: day to day (leg), Isaiah Hartenstein: day to day (nose), Cason Wallace: day to day (knee), Jalen Williams: day to day (wrist), Nikola Topic: out for season (acl), Luguentz Dort: day to day (patellofemoral), Ajay Mitchell: out (toe).

Nuggets: DaRon Holmes II: out for season (achilles), Julian Strawther: out (knee).

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.