Sooners Win Fifth Straight

Dec. 29, 2000

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OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Oklahoma jumped out early and didn't let up against Oral Roberts.

Nolan Johnson and Daryan Selvy each scored 14 points as No. 17 Oklahoma used a balanced scoring attack to beat Oral Roberts 84-51 Friday night at the Touchstone Energy All-College Tournament.

"The highlight of the night was that we were able to sustain the effort," Oklahoma coach Kelvin Sampson said. "I thought our discipline was very good."

The Sooners (10-1) advanced to Saturday night's championship game against Southern Methodist, which beat Texas-Pan American 97-67 in the opening game.

The Sooners raced to a 41-20 halftime lead, then padded their cushion to as much as 37 points late in the second half.

"We've progressively gotten better and right now we're a very good defensive team," Sampson said.

Oklahoma forced Oral Roberts (3-8) into 25 turnovers and limited the Golden Eagles to 34 percent shooting from the field (17-of-50).

Oral Roberts coach Scott Sutton, son of Oklahoma State coach Eddie Sutton, was disappointed in his team's performance.

"We would have had to play a near-perfect game to win," said Sutton, whose team defeated Nebraska (87-83) earlier this season and lost in overtime to both Tulsa (89-81) and Texas Tech (100-98).

Ralph Charles and Josh Atkinson scored 14 points apiece for Oral Roberts, which lost its eighth straight game.

Kelley Newton added 11 points for the Sooners, who shot 48.6 percent (35-of-72) and had six players score eight or more points.

Johnson, Ronnie Griffin and J.R. Raymond each had seven rebounds for the Sooners, who outrebounded Oral Roberts 45-32.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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