TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – No. 9 Alabama picked up another ranked win in a battle of attrition against No. 6 Houston 85-80 in overtime.

Alabama point guard Mark Sears found himself back in the box score in a huge way Tuesday night. Sears hit four 3-pointers, including his go-ahead 3-point shot a minute into overtime. His overtime three ultimately became the game-winning shot for the Crimson Tide.

Sears finished the game with a team-high 24 points on 4-for-13 shooting, including 4-for-8 from behind the arc and 12-for-14 from the free throw line. 

Sears felt that once the game went into overtime, the strength of the team, depth, showed, “We have so much depth, we were able to push the pace and they couldn’t handle it because they were so fatigued,” Sears said.

Alabama built up an eight point lead with under nine minutes to go, and seemed to be pulling away in the second half, but the Houston defense sparked a 14-3 run from Cougar guard L.J. Cryer that gave Houston a four point lead.

With plenty of fouls throughout the second half, the back-and-forth battle became a battle at the free throw line down the stretch of regulation and overtime. The Crimson Tide shot 30-for-41 from the stripe in the game while Houston shot 26-for-33.

Forward Mouhamed Dioubate came up big for Alabama off the bench. The sophomore made major contributions on the scoreboard and on the glass. Dioubate finished with 10 points on 3-for-8 shooting along with the game-sealing field goal with less than two minutes to go in overtime.

“I just play my game,” Dioubate said. “Even if we were playing any other team I would have brought the same intensity and I brought it tonight.”

Dioubate also was the difference in the rebounding. He finished the game with 16 rebounds, five of them being on the offensive end and 10 of them coming in the second half and overtime. Alabama won the rebound battle 49-39, including 20 offensive rebounds that turned into 15 second chance points for the Crimson Tide to Houston’s 13. 

“I said if we beat them at what they are good at, including second chance points, I felt like we could win the game,” Alabama head coach Nate Oats said.

Forward Grant Nelson also made major contributions to the score and the boards. Nelson finished with a double-double, scoring 13 points and grabbing 10 rebounds on 4-for-8 shooting. He also added four free throws to his total that became crucial down the stretch of the game.

An area where the Cougars caused Alabama fits was points off turnovers. While Houston only finished with two less turnovers than the Crimson Tide, Houston was able to capitalize off Alabama turnovers more often. Houston scored 18 points off turnovers compared to Alabama’s 10. 

The Alabama turnovers led to Cryer getting hot in the second half. Cryer scored 19 points in the second half on 5-for-11 shooting and sinking eight more free throws to help Houston force overtime.

Tuesday night’s win was the second consecutive win over an AP Top 25 team and the third consecutive ranked opponent Alabama has faced. While it is only November, Oats has already seen an improvement during the Crimson Tide’s gauntlet.

“The ball has been moving a lot better, our post defense has been a lot better, our rebounding and our toughness has been better,” Oats said.

Up next, Alabama will move to its second game in the Player’s Era Festival. The Crimson Tide will take on the Rutgers Scarlet Knights in Las Vegas. Alabama and Rutgers are set to tip off at 9 p.m CT. A win would advance Alabama past the group stage and into the championship game Saturday night.