The Crimson Tide men’s basketball team won potentially the game of the year in college hoops Wednesday night, taking down the Arkansas Razorbacks 117-115 in double overtime, pulling even with them and Tennessee for second place in the SEC.

It was Labaron Philon Jr. playing hero for Alabama with one of the best games of his young career. He dropped 35 points with seven assists to hold off the Razorbacks sensational freshman Darius Acuff Jr., who had a historic 49-point effort, including a circus shot at the end of regulation to send it into the first overtime.  

The Tide trailed by 10 at the half before fighting back in the second to take a late lead, prior to the Acuff tying bucket right at the end of the game.

Both in overtime and in double overtime, Houston Mallette — who had not been an offensive factor for the entire night — hit two clutch threes for his only six points of the night to push the game to the brink.

Sophomore big man Aiden Sherrell had perhaps his best game in two years as well and has stepped into an even bigger role following the Charles Bediako ruling. Bediako became ineligible which pushed Sherrell into the main size role. He had 26 points and 13 rebounds including five on the offensive side of the ball.

Young freshman Amari Allen had a double-double of his own with 19 points and 11 rebounds.

The victory pushes the Crimson Tide to 9-4 in SEC play and 19-7 overall, two games behind the 11-2 Florida Gators, who once again look like the best team in the conference. Alabama will get set to hit the road once again this weekend with a road game against LSU before hitting the final stretch of the regular season starting next week.

As the season comes to a head, Nate Oats seems to have his squad trending in the right direction, making for a potentially very exciting March ahead.