SOONERS BEAT NO. 21 SMU

Oklahoma was led by Jeremian Fears with 27 points, and the Sooners defeated No. 21 Mississippi State 93-87 on Saturday in Norman. The win snapped OU’s five-game losing skid and revived its hopes of making the NCAA Tournament.

The Sooners improved to 17-10 overall and 4-10 in the SEC. Mississippi State dropped to 19-8, 7-7 SEC. MSU was coming off wins against ranked opponents Mississippi and Texas A&M.

Fears made 7 of 12 field goals and 11 of 14 free throws, while dishing out a career high 10 assists, and grabbing five rebounds. It was the first double-double of his career.

Also for the Sooners in double digits were Jalon Moore with 18 points and seven rebounds, and Sam Godwin had 17 points and 10 rebounds, for his third double-double of the season.

The Bulldogs were led by Josh Hubbard with 19 points and KeShawn Murphy with 16.

Mississippi State led 37-34 at halftime, but OU shot lights out in the second half. The Sooners shot 68 percent from the field in the second half, making 17 of 25 field goals including 7-for-13 (53.8 percent) from three-point range.

Moore put the Sooners ahead 42-41 with a 3-pointer with 17:59 left in the second half. OU took an 85-71 lead with 3:41 remaining and MSU could not catch up.

MSU out rebounded OU, 42-31, but the Bulldogs shot only 39.7 percent from the field, while the Sooners shot 52.7 percent for the game.

Oklahoma will visit Ole Miss on Saturday at 1:00 p.m.

ORU GETS HOME WIN

Clutch free throws in the final 25 seconds helped the Oral Roberts men’s basketball team knock off St. Thomas 71-66 Saturday night at the Mabee Center.

ORU improved to 7-20 overall and 3-11 in the Summit League. St. Thomas is now 20-9, 10-4 SL.

Both teams took a while to get their offense going, as ORU shot 27.3% in the first half, and St. Thomas shot 30.8%. The Tommies led at the end of the low scoring first half, 27-25.

St. Thomas had a 32-25 lead with 17:55 in the second half, but ORU’s Issac McBride drew a foul on a three-pointer and jump-started the Golden Eagle offense. McBride hit all three free throws, and one minute later, Sam Alajiki added a three-pointer, followed by another three by McBride, and ORU took the lead 34-32.

At one point down the stretch, ORU led by eight points, but the Tommies instantly responded with a 6-0 run and trimmed their deficit to two. ORU, however, stepped up in the clutch and hit 9-of-10 free throws over the final 25 seconds to hold on and take the 71-66 win over second-place St. Thomas.

McBride led ORU in scoring with 19 points and 6 rebounds, Jalen Miller had 12 points, including 7-0f-7 at the free throw line, Jackson Skipper and Luke Gray each scored 11 points.

St. Thomas was led by Nolan Minessale with 17 points and 6 rebounds, Ben Nau and Carter Bjerke each had 12 points.

The Tommies narrowly outrebounded ORU 37-36, but the Golden Eagles won the second chance points battle 8-1.

McBride was honored prior to the game for reaching 2,000 points for his collegiate career. He now has 1,921 points in an ORU uniform.

The Golden Eagles host South Dakota State on Thursday at 7:00 p.m. for Senior Night in the final home game of the 2024-25 season.

OSU LOSES AT KANSAS

No. 23 Kansas dominated from start to finish and cruised to a 96-64 win over the Oklahoma State Cowboys on Saturday in Lawrence. The Cowboys fell to 0-8 on the road in Big 12 play and haven’t won in Lawrence since 2018.

The Jayhawks (18-9, 9-7 Big 12) were led by Hunter Dickinson who had 16 points and 11 rebounds. Three other Jayhawks scored in double digits, including 15 points from David Coit and Zeke Mayo, while Dajuan Harris Jr. had 14 points, five assists and six steals.

Oklahoma State (13-14, 5-11 Big 12) was led by Bryce Thompson with 21 points. Brandon Newman added 11 and Marchelus Avery scored 10.

Kansas went on a 19-2 run in the first half to lead OSU by 29 at halftime, 52-23. The Jayhawks led by as many as 39 points in the second half.

Kansas shot 57.1% from the field and held OSU to just 36.7%. Kansas had its most 3-pointers in a game this season (14), surpassing the 11 the Jayhawks had in their season-opening victory over Howard.

The Cowboys will visit Baylor on Saturday at 7:00 p.m.

TULSA LOSES AT RICE

Rick led wire-to-wire to beat Tulsa, 71-50, on Saturday afternoon in Tudor Fieldhouse, in Houston.

Tulsa (11-17, 5-10 The American) allowed Rice (13-15, 4-11 The American) to score the first seven points of the game and never recovered. Rice led by double digits inside of seven minutes and only briefly relinquished a double-digit advantage on two occasions.

This was Tulsa’s first loss at Rice since 2005, snapping a seven-game winning streak in Houston. It was also Rice’s first time to get a season sweep against Tulsa since that 2005 campaign.

The Hurricane shot just 37 percent for the game and 30.4 on 3-pointers, making 7-of-23 from long range. Rice was 44.8 percent on field goals and also made seven 3-pointers while shooting 33.3 percent from that range.

Keaston Willis and Tyshawn Archie were the lone Tulsa players to score in double digits with 14 and 13 respectively. All of Willis’ points came in the first half. Dwon Odom added nine points, all coming in the second half.

Trae Broadnax led the Owls with 16 points. Kellen Amos scored 13 and Jimmy Oladokun added 11.

The Golden Hurricane will host Tulane at the Reynolds Center on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. The game will be broadcast on ESPNU.