No. 4 Oklahoma Ousts Kansas St., 63-52

March 8, 2002

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By STEVE BRISENDINE
Associated Press Writer

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Aaron McGhee and the Oklahoma Sooners were too powerful inside.

Ebi Ere had 20 points and 11 rebounds as No. 4 Oklahoma overcame early turnovers and horrible shooting to beat Kansas State 63-52 in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 tournament Friday night.

McGhee had 16 rebounds for the second-seeded Sooners, whose 54 rebounds were one short of the tournament record set by Texas in 2000.

"The only thing that matters is that we won the game - none of that other stuff," McGhee said.

Oklahoma's 54-30 advantage on the boards helped make up for 32-percent shooting (21-for-65) from the field and 12 first-half turnovers - eight in the first 7{ minutes.

"In an ideal world, we don't need 28 offensive rebounds because we make our shots," coach Kelvin Sampson said. "But I think it's the mark of a good team to get those rebounds and score off second chances."

Oklahoma (25-4) committed just four turnovers in the second half.

Seventh-seeded Kansas State (13-16) led 25-24 at the half and 27-26 on Larry Reid's basket with 18:50 left, but the Sooners went ahead to stay with a 16-4 run - capped by Jason Detrick's layup with 10:21 left - for a 42-31 lead.

The Sooners made eight of 10 free throws in that spurt but only seven of their other 14 attempts from the foul line.

"I'd love to go to the line 44 times a night and let the other team rest all they want," Sampson said. "I've always felt that the team that dominates at the line is going to win the game."

Nick Williams' 15 points led Kansas State - which also struggled from the field, making just 34 percent (17-for-50) of its shots.

Matt Siebrandt added 13 points before fouling out, and center Pervis Pasco finished with 10. He shot just 2-for-8 - with all of his misses on contested shots under the basket.

Reid, who scored 21 points in Thursday night's 74-73 overtime win over Baylor in the first round, was held to eight points on 3-for-15 shooting Friday.

"They didn't shoot the ball well, but they can play great defense," Kansas State coach Jim Wooldridge said of the Sooners. "Their athleticism can make up for mistakes."

Hollis Price, who scored 13 points for Oklahoma, hit two 3-pointers in an 11-0 run that gave the Sooners an 11-2 lead in the first 3{ minutes.

Turnovers and poor shooting caught up with the Sooners after that early surge, though.

Quannas White's 3-pointer with 10:47 left in the half put Oklahoma up 17-10, but the Sooners didn't hit another field goal until White scored again with 3:05 remaining.

"We wanted to speed it up, and we had the game going our way," Price said. "But we had a few breakdowns and they were able to slow the tempo down on us."

Kansas State also struggled with ball control in the first half, committing 10 turnovers and shooting just 38 percent (9-for-24) from the field. But the Wildcats hit their last three shots before halftime.

Gilson DeJesus' 3-pointer with 55 seconds left put Kansas State up 23-22. Price answered with a baseline jumper with 36 seconds to go, but Reid's basket from the top of the key with 4 seconds left gave the Wildcats a one-point halftime lead.

"We dug out because we dug in," Wooldridge said, "but we had a hard time scoring against those guys."

University of Oklahoma Athletics

No. 4 Oklahoma Ousts Kansas St., 63-52

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