Oklahoma basketball: Sooners’ season ends with 2nd round NIT loss

The men’s Oklahoma basketball season came to a sudden end Sunday night with a 70-68 loss to St. Bonaventure in the second round of the National Invitation Tournament.

After taking a 36-33 lead into the locker room at halftime, the Sooners, the NIT’s No. 1 overall seed, played catchup most of the second half. Were it not for the clutch and, as it turned out, courageous performance of senior guard Umoja “Mo” Gibson, the margin of defeat might have been much larger.

St. Bonaventure set the tone for the game right from the opening tip, scoring the first eight points and opening up a 10-2 advantage in the first four minutes. Oklahoma’s first points in the game came at the 17:02 mark in the opening half, and three more minutes elapsed before the Sooners scored their next two points.

Despite the slow start, Oklahoma fought its way back and actually took what turned out to be its largest lead in the game into halftime on one of Gibson’s four three-pointers in the as the final seconds of the half ticked off the clock.

St. Bonaventure (22-9) tied the game 25 seconds into the second half on a three-pointer by Jaren Helms, and the score bounced back and forth for the next seven minutes before the Bonnies went on a 7-0 run to open up an eight-point advantage to go up 54-46.

The Sooners responded with a 12-2 run of their own to regain the lead, 58-56. That would be the final time Oklahoma would lead in the game. Gibson knocked down a contested three-pointer with 20 seconds remaining in the game to draw the Sooners within a point at 69-68. OU immediately fouled on the in-bound possession.

The Bonnies’ Dominick Welch made just one of two free throws, giving OU one last shot with 14 seconds on the clock to either win or send the game to overtime.

Marvin Johnson was open in the left corner, but turned down a three-point attempt, stepping forward for a two-point shot that missed the mark. St. Bonaventure grabbed the rebound and the game and the Sooners’ season was over.

It was OU’s ninth one-possession game of the season. The Sooners were 2-7 in those games. Oklahoma finished the season and the first under head coach Porter Moser with an overall record of 19-16 and 7-11 in Big 12 action.

Three takeaways that tell the story of OU’s season-ending NIT loss:

Absence of complementary offense by the Sooners

Oklahoma shot 47.3 percent for the game, but most of that came from just two Sooner players. Mo Gibson had a game-high 26 points and Jalen Hill contributed 13, but there wasn’t much offense by the supporting cast. Only two other players (Tanner Groves and reserve Ethan Chargois had more than six points.

Mo Gibson, the game’s high scorer, was playing hurt

Head coach Porter Moser revealed after the game that Gibson had been playing with back pain for several weeks. He wasn’t even sure the team’s top scorer would be able to play on Sunday against St. Bonaventure.

“I knew coming into today that I would have to play through some pain,” Gibson said in the team’s postgame interview session. “I wanted to give it my all on the floor. I didn’t want to leave my teammates hanging.”

Gibson more than did his share, contributing 26 points and going 6 of 11 (54.5 percent) from long range. In OU’s two NIT games, the senior shooting guard averaged 27.0 points a game, and over the Sooners last five games he averaged 22.6.

The Sooners’ three-point sharpshooter has not made a decision on his future, but Moser believes he could return.

Older teams that have played together a long time are tough to beat

St. Bonaventure features a starting lineup of five seniors, each of whom have played together for several years and all average double figures in scoring. The Five Bonnie starters on Sunday night scored all but two of the team’s 70 points. Three of the starters played all 40 minutes, another played over 39 minutes and the fifth player was in the game for all but six minutes.

The continuity and scoring balance of St. Bonaventure proved too much for Oklahoma to overcome.