0
0
NORMAN, Okla. – In a game that saw 10 lead changes and the Huskies leading nearly four minutes into the second half, the Big 12’s Oklahoma Sooners used a large second-half run to pull away and defeat the HBU men’s basketball team, 84-65, on Saturday inside the Lloyd Noble Center.
Oklahoma (5-1) took the early lead and built its advantage up to seven, 12-5, but less than three minutes later a Darius Lee three-pointer pulled HBU (1-7) back to within one, 17-16. OU then scored the next six points but the Huskies answered with an 11-4 stretch that featured a trio of threes and evened the score at 27-27 with 7:33 left in the half. The rest of the half saw nine lead changes with the Huskies heading into the locker room trailing 38-35 at the intermission.
At the start of the second half, the two teams came out going back-and-forth with Za-Ontay Boothman burying a three to tie things up at 44-44 just over three minutes in. OU’s Austin Reaves made a pair of free throws before Pedro Castro hit from deep for a 47-46 HBU lead but the Sooners regained the lead on their next possession and would lead for the final 16 minutes. A pair of Lee free throws pulled HBU back to within four near the 12-minute mark but OU put the game out of reach with a 14-point run and led 72-54 with less than seven minutes left on the clock.
For the second-straight game, Lee set a new career-high in scoring with a team-best 15 points off the bench. The junior was a perfect 3-of-3 from beyond the arc and 4-of-8 from the floor while going a perfect 4-of-4 from the foul line and adding a pair of steals.
Castro and Boothman both totaled 13 for the Huskies with Castro grabbing a team-high six rebounds. Castro finished 5-of-10 from the field and 2-of-4 from three with Boothman ending the night 5-of-15 shooting.
As a team, HBU shot 42.1 percent (24-of-57) for the game and 38.5 percent (10-of-26) from deep after knocking down 50 percent from three and overall in the first half. OU shot 49.3 percent (34-of-69) overall and 21.7 percent (5-of-23) from three.
The Huskies were out-rebounded by a 40-29 margin and OU won the turnover battle, 17-10, after both teams committed seven miscues in the first half.
The Huskies will get a break for the holidays before playing one final non-conference game, hosting Dallas Christian on Dec. 30 at 7:00 p.m., ahead of the start of Southland Conference play on Jan. 2 against Northwestern State in Sharp Gym at 7:00 p.m.
Author Profile
