TUSCALOOSA – And just like that, Alabama’s postseason hopes got brighter Wednesday night.

The Crimson Tide men’s basketball team defeated No. 15 Texas A&M (18-6, 7-4 SEC) by a score of 63-62 inside Coleman Coliseum. With the win, UA advanced to 14-9 (5-6) with seven regular-season games left to play.

The win over the Aggies gave UA four wins over ranked opponents (Wichita State, Notre Dame and South Carolina).

Alabama’s Ratings Percentage Index (RPI), according to ESPN, sat at 52 in the country before Wednesday’s game, while Texas A&M was ranked No. 19. RPI is one of the tools used by the NCAA Selection Committee to evaluate teams.

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Texas A&M’s Anthony Collins sank a three-point basket to cut Alabama’s lead to 63-62 with 53.2 seconds left and had a chance to take a last-second lead with a pair of free throw tries with 2.3 seconds on the clock. But the senior missed both free throw attempts. Coming into the game, Collins was 28-of-30 (93 percent) from the free throw line.

Sure, the missed free throws helped seal the win for Alabama, but senior Retin Obasohan could only think of one thing.

"What was going through my mind was the student section was getting loud," Obasohan said. "It won't show up on the stat sheet, how loud the student section got and how loud the fans got. But I truly believe that that was instrumental to this victory. Him missing those two free throws, it got louder and that's the last possession of the game. Just wanna give a lot of credit and a lot of love to the fans and the students because whether they know it or not, they really helped us win this game."

After the Aggies started the game with a magnet tied to the bottom of the net, the Crimson Tide evened the score and jumped out to a 32-27 lead at halftime. It was able to do that because of a strong first half from sophomore Riley Norris. The Albertville native intercepted a Texas A&M pass and launched a three from 30 feet to post a team-high 11 points.

Alabama did a good job of keeping Texas A&M guard Danuel House in check in the first half, but the senior came to life in the second. One of two players Avery Johnson called a “stud” in his Tuesday news conference, House finished with 12 points.

Another player that stepped up in the second half was Crimson Tide freshman Donta Hall. The Luverne product (10 rebounds) was a big reason Alabama out-rebounded Texas A&M 36-29 Wednesday night and gave UA a frontcourt boost.

Johnson was excited during his post-game news conference following the one-point victory over Texas A&M.

"We're just excited on a lot of different levels," Johnson said. "(We got) some key contributions across the board. Retin, he's been kind of our Superman all year. We can depend on him. He does a lot of different things for us, solves a lot of problems ... And then tonight, Luverne's finest (Hall) had some big blocks and a couple of key plays for us and some steals."

Three players scored in double figures for the Crimson Tide, with Obasohan leading the way with 16 points. Norris, who started the game hot, went cold in the final 20 minutes, finishing with 11 points.

Junior forward Shannon Hale (foot) made his first appearance in two games of no playing time after the first media timeout of the night Wednesday. Hale saw the floor for 18 minutes and contributed 10 points.

Texas A&M senior guard Jalen Jones paced the Aggies with a game-high 21 points, while Collins contributed 11 points.

Alabama will next travel to Gainesville, Fla., to face Florida on Saturday, Feb. 13, on the SEC Network.

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Contact Charlie Potter by 247Sports' personal messaging system or on Twitter at @Charlie_Potter.