Oklahoma Cruises By NSU, 70-35

NORMAN, Okla. (AP) -- Taj Gray got Oklahoma off to a fast start and the Sooners cruised to a 70-35 victory over Northeastern State in their exhibition opener Saturday night.

Gray, picked by Big 12 coaches as the conference's preseason player of the year, scored the first 11 points of the game and finished with 26 points and 11 rebounds. He scored seven before the Redmen attempted their first shot.

Kevin Bookout hit two free throws to cap a 13-0 run to start the game for Oklahoma, which returns its top three scorers and rebounders - Gray, Bookout and Terrell Everett - from a team that went 25-8 and shared the Big 12 regular-season title before losing in the second round of the NCAA tournament last season.

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“It was the first exhibition game and I saw a lot of good things that we'll take and use to point out next week in practice," said OU head coach Kelvin Sampson, "but I also saw a lot of things we have to work on to get better. It was a typical first exhibition game. We had a lot of guys play a lot of minutes with different groups substituting a lot. We'll evaluate the tape next week and try to get better.”

It was a somewhat lackluster performance offensively for Oklahoma, which kept Gray, Bookout and Everett in the game until the final few minutes. The Sooners were 0-for-11 from 3-point range and 10-for-20 at the free-throw line.

Bookout, who had surgery Sept. 15 to reposition a troublesome nerve in his right elbow, wore a protective wrap on the elbow and finished with 13 points and 16 rebounds. Everett scored 10 points, all in the second half.

Sid Melvin scored eight points to lead Northeastern State, a Division II school from Tahlequah, Okla.

The Sooners play their second and final exhibition game Nov. 12 against coach Kelvin Sampson's alma mater, North Carolina-Pembroke. The game will start at 7 p.m. CST. Oklahoma opens the regular season Nov. 19 against Samford.

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