NORMAN, Okla. — Labaron Philon scored 23 points, Aiden Sherrell added 21 and No. 18 Alabama beat Oklahoma, 83-81, on Saturday.
Oklahoma inbounded the ball with 4.1 seconds left and went for the win, but Nijel Pack missed a long 3-pointer and the Sooners couldn’t get a shot off after corralling the offensive rebound.
Alabama (13-5, 3-2 Southeastern Conference) won despite making only 15 of 26 free throws.
Xzayvier Brown scored 21 points and Derrion Reid added 16 for Oklahoma (11-7, 1-3). The Sooners, who sought their first win over a ranked team this season, dropped their fourth straight. They were coming off a 96-79 home loss to No. 19 Florida on Tuesday and needed a quality win to boost their NCAA Tournament resume.
Oklahoma led 21-19 when Alabama’s Amari Allen scored in close and was fouled hard by Kirill Elatontsev. The foul was upgraded to a flagrant 1, and Allen made two free throws to give the Crimson Tide a 23-21 edge.
Oklahoma recovered and led 44-33 at halftime. The Sooners held Alabama to 4-for-19 shooting from 3-point range before the break.
Alabama opened the second half on a 12-0 run. A fast break layup by Philon capped off the run and gave the Crimson Tide a 45-44 lead. Oklahoma didn’t score for nearly three minutes to start the second half.
Oklahoma trailed 82-79 with 10 seconds left. The Sooners pushed the ball up court, and Brown was fouled while shooting a circus 3-pointer with 7.2 seconds left. He made the first two free throws and missed the third for his first miss in nine tries.
Allen made one of two free throws at the other end to set up the final sequence.
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