The Arizona Wildcats men’s basketball falls to Oklahoma in the Battle4Atlantis semifinals

There will be no trophy with Arizona from the Bahamas.

The 24th-ranked Wildcats played behind for most of the game and were never able to catch Oklahoma, losing 82-77 in the Battle4Atlantis semifinals on Thursday. Arizona (3-3) will face Big 12 school West Virginia in the third-place game on Friday at 1 p.m. MT.

Both teams shot at 43.1 percent, but the difference was marginal as Oklahoma (6-0) made 12 of 29 three-pointers, including 8 of 14 in the second half, while Arizona was 5 of 19 after it had scored 11 of 22 104-point shots on Wednesday. 71 win over Davidson.

Caleb Love led Arizona with 17 points, 12 in the second half, but took 18 shots while Jaden Bradley had 16, Motiejus Krivas 14 and Trey Townsend 10.

The UA had no answer for the freshman from Oklahoma Jeremiah’s fearswho has 26 points, five rebounds and five assists, or senior wing Jalon Moorewho chose 24. They were 14 of 32 from the field but hit 6 of 10 threes and made 16 of 17 free throws while the Sooners were 20 of 21 from the line.

Oklahoma turned the ball over 17 times, leading to 23 points for Arizona, but the Sooners won the rebounding battle by four points.

Arizona trailed 36-30 at halftime and shot 28.6 percent in the first half. The second half started with 3 of 7, but the deficit grew as Fears continued to hold on Krivas and then a long three-pointer to give the Sooners a 46-36 lead with 15:30 left.

Back-to-back 3s from Love and Lewis cut the game to 4 points, but Lewis was hit by a technical after attempting to point to the Oklahoma bench. It was his second such T-foul of the season and fourth foul of the game, sending him to the bench with 14:07 left.

The Sooners extended their lead to nine before Arizona went on a 6-0 run and its defense took over. Then Bradley got a steal and scored Anthony Dell’Orso raised the order to set up a love layup to bring the UA to 53-50.

Four consecutive goals by Oklahoma, three of them from long distance, made the score 68:57 with 8:18 left. It was still an 11-point lead with 4:06 left when Arizona went small, and it started to pay off by forcing a few turnovers and then scoring on the other end.

Two Bradley free throws put the UA up 78-75 with 1:14 left, but after a stop, the Wildcats missed their next five shots, including three on one possession. Oklahoma responded with four free throws from Fears in the final minute.

Arizona missed its first 10 shots, including five from outside, and didn’t score a field goal until Dell’Orso made a layup with 12:55 left and the first six points came from the line. The Wildcats started 2 of 17, allowing Oklahoma a 13-point lead before they began to find an offensive rhythm.

Free throws kept the UA at bay until it started making shots, with a love bench shot from a Lewis managed to get the ball to 28-23, and a Logo 3 from Love cut the score to 34-30 in the final minute of the first half.