Sooners Use Big Run in First half to Propel to Victory

Oklahoma grabbed the momentum late in the first half, scoring 15 of the last 17 points, including 13 in a row, and never relented to hand Kansas State a 76-50 loss on Tuesday night in front of a limited capacity crowd of 1,934 at the Lloyd Noble Center.

The Sooners (8-4, 4-3 Big 12) used a combined 27-4 run over a near 11-minute span from the 5:19 mark of the first half to the 14:39 mark of the second half to flip a 5-point deficit (22-17) into an 18-point lead (44-26). From there, they pushed the lead to many as 26 in the second half.

Oklahoma has now won 5 of the last 6 meetings at home in the series.

The Wildcats (5-10, 1-6 Big 12), which dropped their fifth game in a row, could not get anything going offensively, hitting on just 36.1 percent (22-of-61) from the field, including 20 percent (3-of-15) from 3-point range, while turning it over 20 times leading to 20 Sooner points.

With K-State leading 22-17 with 6:03 to play in the first half after a dunk by freshman Davion Bradford capped a 6-0 run, Oklahoma responded by scoring 13 consecutive points to seize the momentum over a 4-minute stretch. In all, the Sooners finished with 15 of the final 17 points of the first half highlighted by a dunk by senior Kur Kuath right before the buzzer to take a 32-24 lead into the break.

The Wildcats went without a field goal for more than 5 minutes during the decisive Sooner run before a layup by sophomore Antonio Gordon with 56 seconds left.

Oklahoma carried its momentum into the early moments of the second half, scoring 12 of the first 14 points, including a 12-0 run, to build its lead to 18 points with just under 15 minutes to play.

The Sooners connected on 46 percent (29-of-63) from the field, as three players scored in double figures led by sophomore De’Vion Harmon’s game-high 16 points.

Sophomore DaJuan Gordon was the lone Wildcat to score in double figures with 13 points on 6-of-14 field goals to go with 6 rebounds and 2 steals. Freshman Selton Miguel collected 9 points on 4-of-9 shooting with 7 rebounds, while sophomore Kaosi Ezeagu added 7 points and 3 rebounds in his return after missing 10 games due to injury. Sophomore Antonio Gordon grabbed a career-high 11 rebounds to go with 6 points.

K-State moved closer to having a fully healthy roster with the return of Ezeagu, who played 12 minutes in his first game since December 5. The Wildcats played with 12 of their 14 roster players after getting back Antonio Gordon and freshmen Luke Kasubke and Seryee Lewis against Texas on Saturday.

Despite the return of Ezeagu, K-State played without its starting point guard Nijel Pack for the third straight game.