Oklahoma Pulls Out 78-72 Win at Texas A&M

Drew Lavender scored a career high 31 points, including nine in the final two minutes, to lead Oklahoma to a 78-72 victory over Texas A&M on Saturday afternoon.

With 1:50 remaining and the Sooners trailing, Lavender missed the second of two free throws, but Oklahoma got three straight offensive rebounds followed by misses.

Jabahri Brown then grabbed his fourth straight rebound and found Lavender outside the 3-point line. Lavender hit the 3-pointer to give Oklahoma a 72-70 lead.

Oklahoma (16-5, 6-4 Big 12) has won six of its last seven games, following its four game losing streak in early January. Jason Detrick had 14 points and Lawrence McKenzie added 10.

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Texas A&M (7-14, 0-10) was led by Kevin Turner with 16 points. Turner, fresh off a one game suspension for violating team rules, came off the bench to spark the Aggies early in the first half.

With five minutes remaining in the second half, A&M closed to within two and had a chance to tie the game with Andy Slocum going to the free throw line.

But Slocum missed his second free throw and Jesse King grabbed an offensive rebound and put it right back up to get the basket and foul. He converted the free throw to give A&M its first lead of the game, 64-63.

Lavender scored all but four of OU's points in the final five minutes and eventually regained the lead for good with his 3-pointer.

The Sooners were outrebounded 40-27 but controlled the boards to a 7-1 advantage in the final two minutes.