No. 9 Alabama allows late dunking against Oregon

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Nate Bittle scored the game-winning goal on a putback dunk with 4.4 seconds left, leading unbeaten Oregon to an 83-81 victory over No. 9 Alabama in the Players Era Festival championship game on Saturday night.

Keeshawn Barthelemy scored 22 points off the bench to lead the Ducks (8-0), and Bittle had 19 points on the night.

Alabama’s Aden Holloway made a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 81-78 with 26 seconds left. The Ducks turned the ball over and Mark Sears made a free throw to get within two points. Sears missed the second free throw, but Mouhamed Dioubate grabbed the offensive rebound, was fouled and tied the game at 81 with two free throws.

On the ensuing possession, Barthelemy missed a layup and Bittle followed with the jam.

Labaron Philon led Alabama (6-2) with 15 points, while Sears, Holloway and Jarin Stevenson each scored 11 points.

Takeaways

Alabama: The Crimson Tide made 12 of 38 from 3-point range to keep the game close.

Oregon: By winning the tournament, the Ducks received an additional $500,000 in zero money, in addition to the $1 million guaranteed for each team in the field. The Crimson Tide received an additional $250,000 for second place.

Key moment

Oregon trailed 74-70 with 3:50 to play when Barthelemy forced a foul and made two free throws to cut the lead to two. That began a run in which the Ducks outscored the Crimson Tide 12-1 and took an 81-75 lead with 31 seconds left.

Key statistics

The Crimson Tide had 15 turnovers, while the Ducks only had eight. Oregon scored 17 points off turnovers.

Next

Oregon plays USC on Wednesday in both teams’ Big Ten opener, and Alabama plays North Carolina on the same day.