Sooners Power Past Hogs, 83-72

Dec. 15, 2007

	1st	2nd	F
ARK	39	33	72
OU	45	38	83

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Stats Comparison	OU	ARK
Points	83	72
FG Made-Attempted	28-56	29-70
FG Percentage	.500	.414
3P Made-Attempted	11-25	5-23
3P Percentage	.440	.217
FT Made-Attempted	16-20	9-17
FT Percentage	.800	.529
Rebounds	35	42
Turnovers	8	10

OU Stat Leaders

ARK

2 Players	17	Points	16	Washington
T. Griffin	8	Rebounds	12	Washington
Godbold	5	Assists	3	Beverly
T. Griffin	3	Steals	3	Beverly
Longar	4	Blocks	3	Hill

• Big 12 Conference

NORMAN, Okla. (AP) -- Longar Longar took a pass on the fast break, leaped into the air and fired the ball straight out of bounds. When he peeled himself off the floor a few moments later, he stiffly limped his way to the bench.

All he did when the game resumed was lead Oklahoma to victory.

Longar scored the most spectacular of his 17 points on a pair of late dunks as Oklahoma pulled away to beat Arkansas 83-72 Saturday.

"He took a couple of bad falls but he kept getting back up. He kept playing," Sooners coach Jeff Capel said. "We went to him and he delivered."

After his high-flying antics sent him crashing to the floor, Longar returned after a timeout to hit two free throws and start a seven-point surge for Oklahoma. The 6-foot-11 center blocked Sonny Weems' shot at the other end before Austin Johnson hit a 3-pointer, and Longar followed that with a two-handed dunk to put Oklahoma ahead 75-65 with 2:20 to play.

Longar added a right-handed jam that extended Oklahoma's lead to 79-68 with less than a minute left, and the Sooners spent the rest of the game at the free-throw line. Longar ended up with seven rebounds and a season-high four blocks.

"Tonight we saw a variety of some of the things he can do," Capel said. "Now, I didn't like the Magic Johnson impersonation."

Johnson also had 17 points, a season-high, for Oklahoma and Omar Leary and Tony Crocker each scored 12. Freshman Blake Griffin scored 11 while coming off the bench for the first time in his career.

It was the fifth straight win for Oklahoma (8-3) against its neighbor to the east.

"If we want to be playing in March and be a tournament team, these are the type of games that we need to win," Longar said.

Michael Washington scored a season-high 16 points and tied his career-high with 12 rebounds to lead Arkansas (8-2). Darian Townes added 13 points and Weems scored 11 for the Razorbacks, who lost their first road game under John Pelphrey despite pulling down a season-best 24 offensive rebounds and taking 14 more shots than the Sooners.

Arkansas shot 41 percent and has had its three worst shooting performances of the season in its last three games.

"We did a good job of rebounding the basketball ... but I guess when you miss it at the alarming rate that we did there, there were probably more opportunities to grab it too," Pelphrey said. "I wish we didn't have as many opportunities."

Arkansas eliminated a seven-point deficit with a 9-2 run midway through the second half that Washington capped with a 3-pointer to tie it at 58. The Razorbacks had missed their last nine shots from 3-point range before Washington's make off an offensive rebound.

The teams then traded baskets before Crocker's 3-pointer from the left wing with 7:34 remaining put the Sooners ahead to stay.

"For us, this is ... kind of the first big win that we've had in a year and a half," said Capel, in his second year as the Sooners' coach. "We beat an opponent that maybe some people, maybe a lot of people didn't think we could win.

"Hopefully our guys get confidence not just that we won, but the manner in which we won, how hard we played, how well we played."

In the process, Oklahoma bounced back from a disappointing loss a week earlier to Stephen F. Austin and avoided losing consecutive nonconference home games for the first time since 1991.

"Hopefully we learned a lot about ourselves, and maybe who we can become through that experience," Capel said. "Sometimes you have to go through something really bad to appreciate good things and to really understand how you have to play."

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