Jeremiah Fears had 26 points and made two free throws with eight seconds left to seal Oklahoma’s 82-77 win Thursday over No. 24 Arizona in the semifinals of the Battle 4 Atlantis at Nassau, Bahamas.
Fears went 8 of 8 from the free-throw line, leading the Sooners’ 20-of-21 performance.
Oklahoma (6-0) will play Louisville (5-1) in the championship game Friday. Arizona (3-3) will face fellow Big 12 member West Virginia (4-2) in the third-place game.
Arizona went on a 10-2 run to cut Oklahoma’s lead to 78-75 following two free throws by Jaden Bradley with 1:14 remaining. Bradley had six of his 16 points in that stretch.
Fears made two free throws with 20 seconds left after gathering a rebound following a 3-point miss by Bradley that could have tied the game.
Bradley was fouled driving to the basket and made two free throws with 14 seconds left to cut the lead to 80-77.
Fears was fouled after getting the ball past midcourt and made the game-securing free throws with 8 seconds left.
Jalon Moore finished with 24 points and seven rebounds for Oklahoma.
Duke Miles added 11 points and Luke Northweather had 10 points and seven rebounds off the bench.
Caleb Love led Arizona with 17 points, Motiejus Krivas finished with 14 points and seven rebounds and Trey Townsend had 10 points.
Oklahoma took advantage of Arizona’s shooting woes to take a 36-30 halftime lead.
The Wildcats made 28.6 percent (8 of 28) from the field, and 18.2 percent (2 of 11) from 3-point range by halftime.
Arizona’s starting perimeter trio of Love, Bradley and KJ Lewis combined to make 2 of 12 from the field, 1 of 7 from beyond the arc at that point.
Oklahoma’s 10 turnovers in the first half led to 12 points for Arizona kept the Wildcats close.
Fears, a freshman, scored 12 straight points for Oklahoma in one stretch to keep the Sooners ahead of Arizona 53-44 with 12:49 remaining.
Love fueled a 9-3 stretch for Arizona with a jumper and 3-pointer to cut the lead to 56-53.
A 3-pointer by Glenn Taylor Jr. and a layup and free-throw by Moore allowed Oklahoma to build the lead to 65-55 with 8:55 remaining.
