Washington Holds On For 96-91 Win

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Oklahoma's starting frontcourt of Kevin Bookout and Taj Gray supplied 39 points, but the OU defense had a difficult time slowing Washington's high-powered offense as the No. 22 Huskies posted a 96-91 Great Alaska Shootout semifinals win Friday night. The Sooners' 91 points were the most scored by an OU team in defeat since Feb. 5, 1994, Billy Tubbs' last year as head coach.

Bookout scored a game-high 22 points on 9-of-10 field goal shooting while Gray contributed 17 points, a team-high six rebounds and four blocked shots. Terrell Everett added 19 points for the Sooners to go along with four rebounds and five assists.

Box Score | Photos | Postgame Video

The Huskies outrebounded OU by a 34-24 count and shot .547 from the field. Fifteen of Washington's rebounds were offensive. Guard Nate Robinson netted a team-high 19 points for Washington while forward Jamaal Williams supplied 18 points and six boards off the bench.

"I was really disappointed with our defense," said OU head coach Kelvin Sampson. "Our guards didn't guard the dribble and our post guys didn't step in and help. Just poor defensive effort. That being said, I hate it when coaches never give the other team credit. Washington is a great offensive team. Not a good offensive team -- a great offensive team. They're a hard matchup because their post guys can make jump shots."

OU took a 6-2 lead but quickly fell behind and trailed by 10 (26-16) with 9:31 left in the first half. The Sooners rallied behind eight points from Bookout to go up 35-34 before the Huskies went back ahead by seven with 1:16 to go. A Lawrence McKenzie 3-pointer made the score 47-43 at halftime.

The Sooners went on a 10-5 run to open the second half and led 53-52. Bookout was then whistled for his fourth foul and exited the game with 15:58 showing on the clock. Washington quickly took advantage of the junior forward's absence and used a 9-2 run to go ahead by six. The Huskies extended their lead to 11 (70-59) with 11:13 remaining stayed ahead for good.

Everett scored 14 second-half points to help keep OU in the game, but five points was as close as the margin would get. The Sooners fell to 2-1 while Washington improved to 3-0.

"We scored 91 points, that's a positive," noted Sampson. "A lot of guys played well offensively. But you don't win games with offense. You win games with defense."

When asked about OU's 10-rebound deficit, Bookout said, "That should be one of the best aspects of our game -- boxing people out and grabbing every ball that comes off the rim. We shouldn't be outrebounded at all. We should be outrebounding people by 10."

Bookout tried to find a silver lining.

"We've been stressing defense the whole month and a half we've been practicing. This might be good for us. It might be a lesson learned and it's better to learn it right now than later down the line."

Senior guard Jaison Williams also reached double digits in scoring for OU with 10 points. His six assists were a team high. Drew Lavender scored eight points and registered five assists.

The Sooners shot .550 from the field for the game, .400 from 3-point range and .792 from the free throw line. OU has shot better than .500 from the field in all three games. It did it three times all of last season.

Oklahoma will meet Minnesota in a battle for third place on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. CST. The Golden Gophers lost a 78-72 decision to No. 19 Alabama on Friday. The game will air on the Sooner Sports Radio Network (KOKC 1520 AM in Oklahoma City) and will not be televised.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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