On Sunday, the No. 18 Alabama men’s basketball team finished off the Phil Knight Invitational with a third-place win, handing No. 1 North Carolina their second loss of the tournament, 103-101 in quadruple overtime.
Nate Oats and his Crimson Tide came into the tournament with their eyes on the trophy but came away from the tournament with a 2-1 record against three top 20 opponents, including a win against the top team in the nation.
Alabama had to battle adversity early. After four minutes into the game, starting forward Noah Clowney fell awkwardly on his hip and suffered a lower-body contusion and didn’t return. The Crimson Tide also had to deal with star forward Brandon Miller’s struggles from the field and foul trouble. Miller has been the Tide’s best scorer, averaging over 20 points per game. Miller picked up his third foul with 3:47 left in the first half and had a zero in the points column until the 17:57 mark in the second half, picking up his fourth foul. Miller ended up salvaging an average performance with 14 points and seven rebounds.
Alabama guard Mark Sears picked up the slack for the Crimson Tide, scoring a team-high 24 points while hitting seven of his 11 three-point attempts.
Jahvon Quinerly came off the bench with 21 points and eight assists, but it was not a good shooting night for the senior. Quinerly finished the game shooting 27% from behind the arc and just 31% from the field. Despite the poor shooting, Nate Oats put the ball in his hands with the game on the line time and time again until finally in the fourth overtime when Quinerly lobbed a pass to Charles Bediako, who dropped it in with 25 seconds left for what would eventually be the game-winner.
With Clowney leaving the game early, Bediako stepped up and finished with 16 rebounds and 14 points, including the game-winning bucket.
Alabama doesn’t have another game until Saturday, December 3 against South Dakota State. The long break in between games will be much needed for Alabama after a long, tough weekend against some stiff competition, including Sunday's quadruple overtime thrilling victory.
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