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KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Ticker) -- After sleepwalking for 20 minutes, Oklahoma woke up in time to still dream about a possible top seed in the NCAA Tournament. Ebi Ere scored 20 points as the fourth-ranked Sooners overcame a sluggish first half before pulling away for a 63-52 victory over Kansas State in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 Conference tournament. Still harboring thoughts of securing a top seed in the NCAA Tournament, the heavily favored Sooners (25-4) squandered an early 10-point lead and found themselves trailing, 25-24, at the half. But sparked by Ere, who scored 15 points in the second half, the defending Big 12 tournament champions won their sixth straight game and will face Texas in Saturday's semifinals. For the Sooners to get that top seed in the NCAA Tournament, it likely will have to win this tournament. Ere and Aaron McGhee led a dominant effort on the glass by the Sooners, who grabbed 54 rebounds, one short of the tying the tournament record set by Texas in 2000. Ere had 11 boards while McGhee was even better with 16 as the duo combined for three fewer than the entire Wildcats team. The effort on the boards help offset a poor peformance from the field for the Sooners, who shot 32 percent (21-of-65) and committed 16 turnovers. Oklahoma had 12 turnovers in the first half. "Rebounding, toughness, and effort can't take nights off," Oklahoma coach Kelvin Sampson said. "I don't like when our kids get affected by missed shots. A missed shot doesn't mean you can't get an offensive rebound. I don't negotiate or discuss not getting rebounds." "The difference in the ballgame was rebounding," Kansas State coach Jim Woolridge said. "I thought we played outstanding defense but we just couldn't control destiny at the end of the possession." Nick Williams scored 15 points and Matt Siebrandt 13 for the Wildcats (13-16), who advanced to the quarterfinals with a 74-73 victory over Baylor on Thursday. Early on, it looked the Sooners would have their way as Hollis Price drilled three 3-pointers in the first 4 1/2 to open a 14-4 lead. It was still 17-10 following a 3-pointer by Quannas White with 10:50 to play before intermission. But after that hoop, the Sooners went over seven minutes without a basket until White made a jumper for a 20-16 lead with 3:06 left in the half. A 3-pointer by Gilson DeJesus with under a minute left in the half gave the Wildcats the lead at 23-22. Kansas State shot just 37.5 percent (9-of-24) in the half, and the Sooners were even worse at 31 percent (9-of-29). The Wildcats still had the lead at 27-26 with 18:51 remaining on a basket by Larry Reid. Reid, the Wildcats' best player, finished with just eight points on 3-of-15 shooting. After Reid's basket, the Sooners took control of the contest with a 16-4 run, capped by Jason Detrick's layup for a 42-31 lead with 10:25 left. Oklahoma went 8-of-10 from the line during the spurt. Oklahoma was methodical the rest of the way, leading by at least six points. "We wanted to speed it up," Price said. "We got out to a 14-4 lead but then we started having breakdowns. They wanted to slow it down. We came out after halftime and we wanted to speed it up and get the game going our way." . |
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