Alabama hands No. 1 UNC second loss in 4OT
PORTLAND, Ore.– Mark Sears had 24 points, 5 rebounds and 5 helps, and No. 18 Alabama sent out top-ranked North Carolina to a second straight loss with a 103-101 triumph in a quadruple-overtime thriller Sunday in the third-place game of the Phil Knight Invitational tournament.Jahvon Quinerly included 21
points off the bench for the Crimson Tide (6-1), who knocked off the top-ranked group for the very first time because disturbing Stanford in the 2004 NCAA tournament.
“I was losing track of how many overtimes we remained in there at the end,” Crimson Tide coach Nate Oats said. “A great deal of credit to our guys. I thought they revealed a great deal of character when we could have folded.”
Charles Bediako had 14 points, 16 rebounds and 3 blocks, while Brandon Miller also scored 14 points.Caleb Love led
the Tar Heels (5-2) with 34 points, 9 rebounds, 4 helps and 3 steals. Armando Bacot contributed 20 points and 10 rebounds, and R.J. Davis had 19 points and 9 rebounds in the second four-overtime game in North Carolina history. The other was a triumph over Tulane in 1976.
“At the end of the day, Alabama made one more play than we did,” North Carolina coach Hubert Davis stated. “I walked in the locker space and a number of the guys had their head down and I told them to choose their head up. I’m simply as dissatisfied [as the players] in terms of the last result, but I couldn’t be any more proud about the method they contended.”
Bediako offered the Crimson Tide the lead for good on a layup with 26 seconds remaining in the 4th overtime.The Tar Heels,
who lost to Iowa State in the semifinals, led by as much as 8 in the 2nd half before Alabama came back to connect it. The Crimson Tide retook the lead on a pair of totally free throws from Gurley with 2 minutes staying and later on connected the game with another complimentary toss from Sears with 51 seconds staying in regulation.Alabama starting forward
Noah Clowney took a hard fall on a dunk effort 4 minutes into the first half and had to be assisted off the court. He did not return.The Crimson
Tide were 16-for-38 (42.1%) from 3-point variety, with Sears making seven.Get unique access to more than 3,000 premium articles a year from leading authors. – Wyshynski: Judging NHL overreactions “- Pelton: Are the Kings genuine? “
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More ESPN+content “BROAD VIEW North Carolina:
The Tar Heels figure to take a
deep drop in the Top 25 poll.Alabama: The Crimson Tide recovered nicely following their loss to No. 20 UConn in
the semifinals.UP NEXT North Carolina: The Tar Heels travel to Bloomington to deal with No. 11 Indiana on Wednesday.Alabama: The Crimson Tide return house
to face South Dakota State on Saturday.