Otega Oweh drove the length of the court and avoided three defenders to convert the winning layup with half a second left as sixth-seeded Kentucky escaped with a wild 85-84 victory over 14th-seeded Oklahoma on Thursday night to reach the quarterfinals of the Southeastern Conference tournament in Nashville.
Oweh scored 27 points while disappointing his former Oklahoma teammates for the second time in two weeks. He drove for the decisive basket with 6.4 seconds left in Kentucky’s 83-82 win over the host Sooners on Feb. 26.
Koby Brea scored 22 points for the No. 15 Wildcats (22-10), who will play third-seeded Alabama on Friday night.
Oweh’s winning basket came after the Sooners (20-13) ripped off a frantic 19-6 run to take a one-point lead on Jeremiah Fears’ driving hoop with 5.6 seconds left.
Fears scored 28 points while Kobe Elvis and Jalon Moore scored 12 points apiece for Oklahoma, which might have to sweat it out on Selection Sunday for an NCAA Tournament bid.
The Sooners took advantage of the absence of stellar Kentucky defender Lamont Butler (left shoulder) during their impressive rally.
Oklahoma trailed by 12 with 4:31 to play and eventually pulled within 83-80 on a 3-pointer by Fears with 33.8 seconds to play.
Kentucky was sloppy with the ball and Fears stole it and passed it to Moore for a dunk to bring the Sooners within one with 23.7 seconds left.
Fears then recorded another steal. After slowing down the pace, he drove to the hoop and banked in a layup to put Oklahoma ahead with 5.6 seconds left.
Butler aggravated his left shoulder injury just past the midway point of the first half and missed the rest of the game.
Wildcats coach Mark Pope said during a halftime television injury that Butler was undergoing imaging on the shoulder. Butler returned to the bench seven minutes into the second half.
Kentucky shot 51.7 percent from the field, including 8 of 24 from 3-point range.
The Sooners hit 48.4 percent of their shots and were 9 of 25 from behind the arc.
Kentucky rolled off 11 straight points to turn its one-point edge with under seven minutes remaining into a 12-point lead.
Oweh and Brea started the spurt with 3-pointers to push the lead to seven. Oweh converted a three-point play and Brandon Garrison ended it with a dunk to give the Wildcats a 77-65 advantage with 4:31 remaining.
The Sooners fought back, moving within 81-77 on two free throws by Fears with 48.7 seconds left.
Brea made two free throws with 41.8 seconds left to give Kentucky a six-point lead.
Brea scored 12 points and Oweh added 11 as Kentucky led 40-38 at the break. Fears scored 12 and Elvis had 10 for the Sooners.
–Field Level Media
