PHOENIX – Wally Szczerbiak took the ball out of bounds, found no one open, and called timeout.

Oops. His team had no timeouts left.

That mistake with 15.1 seconds to play allowed the Phoenix Suns to escape with a 103-99 victory over the Seattle SuperSonics on Friday night.

“Now I know how Chris Webber felt in the NCAA tournament,” Szczerbiak said, recalling that long-ago error that helped cost Michigan the national title.

The Suns went 32 of 32 at the foul line, one shy of the franchise record, including three by Steve Nash at the end.

Seattle trailed 100-99 and had the ball out of bounds beneath its basket, but Szczerbiak could find no one open and signaled timeout. The Sonics didn’t have any left, however, resulting in a technical foul.

Nash made the free throw, then Phoenix retained possession by rule. Nash was fouled and made both from the line to provide the final margin.

Amare Stoudemire scored 33, including 15 of 15 at the line, to lead the Suns, who have yet to be joined by newly acquired Shaquille O’Neal. Grant Hill added 16 points, Leandro Barbosa 15, Raja Bell 14 and Nash 13. Nash also had 10 assists.

Chris Wilcox led the Sonics with 22 points. Szczerbiak added 13.

O’Neal, out for two weeks with a hip injury, has returned to Miami but is expected to be back Sunday. Coach Mike D’Antoni would not rule out O’Neal playing Wednesday at Golden State or Thursday at home against Dallas.

“I think there were a lot of distractions going on, obviously, and we were not real sharp,” D’Antoni said. “Yesterday we took the day off completely, and you know, we found a way to win.”

Phoenix struggled throughout but seemed finally in control with a 98-90 lead after Boris Diaw’s 16-footer with 2:58 to play.

But the Sonics, winners of four of their previous five, scored the next nine to go ahead 99-98 on Wilcox’s driving 9-footer with 1:04 left.

Diaw missed a drive to the basket but got his rebound, then Hill’s 16-footer bounced a few times on the rim before going in with 28.7 seconds to play to put Phoenix back ahead, 100-99.