Oklahoma basketball: Sooners show toughness before falling in OT at Texas
By Chip Rouse
A determined Oklahoma basketball team fought with everything it had for 60 full minutes but couldn’t muster enough in overtime as No. 6 Texas avoided an upset with an 85-83 victory.
The two Red River rivals battled to a 34-all deadlock at halftime. A three-pointer by Grant Sherfield with seven seconds remaining in regulation tied the score at 73 and sent the contest to overtime.
Texas made its first five shots in the five-minute extra session and jumped out to an 84-77 advantage midway through the overtime period. The Sooners refused to quit and fought back to within one, 84-83, with seven seconds to go. The Longhorns’ Tyrese Hunter made one of two free throws to stretch the Texas lead to 85-83.
Oklahoma (13-14, 3-11) had a chance to send it to double overtime as the final seconds ticked away, but the Sooners’ Sam Godwin missed a final shot attempt from close in to send the game final.
The Texas win enabled the Longhorns (21-6, 10-4) to sweep the regular-season series with the Sooners and make it five straight wins over Oklahoma. The two games were decided by a total of three points. Texas prevailed 70-69 earlier in Norman. The victory also allowed Texas to take a temporary hold of first place in the Big 12 standings pending the outcome of a later game on Saturday between Kansas and Baylor.
Sherfield led the Sooners with 18 points, 12 of which came in the second half. Miles Uzan had 15 points for Oklahoma and Joe Bamisile, a transfer from George Washington, contributed 13 off the bench, including several big shots in the first half.
Marcus Carr scored 17 points for Texas, including 9 of 11 at the free-throw line, but the Longhorn responsible for the most damage was Sir’Jabari Rice, who had 24 points coming off the Texas bench, including four of six from three-point range.
Saturday’s defeat was like a double loss for Oklahoma. Texas Tech, which was tied with the Sooners coming into Saturday with a 3-10 record in the Big 12, won at West Virginia. As a direct result, Oklahoma drops into sole possession of last place in the league standings.
Oklahoma and Texas Tech will face each other in Norman on Wednesday night. The Sooners will go for the season sweep having won the first game between the two teams 68-63 in Lubbock.