Pledger Pours in 38 as OU Wins at Iowa State

	1st	2nd	OT	F
Oklahoma	38	29	15	82
Iowa State	30	37	9	76

Stats Comparison	OU	ISU
Points	82	76
FG Made-Attempted	26-57	26-66
FG Percentage	.456	.394
3P Made-Attempted	11-27	5-24
3P Percentage	.407	.208
FT Made-Attempted	19-32	19-23
FT Percentage	.594	.826
Rebounds	34	45
Turnovers	12	18

OU	Stat Leaders			ISU
Pledger	38	Points	19	Ejim
3 Players	5	Rebounds	12	Ejim
Clark	4	Assists	4	Garrett
3 Players	2	Steals	2	Christopherson
Fitzgerald	2	Blocks	2	Vanderbeken

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AMES, Iowa (AP) -- Oklahoma's Steven Pledger offered a pretty simple explanation for the best game of his college career.

"It was just me staying in the same mind frame the whole game," the 6-foot-4 sophomore said. "I guess I was in my zone."

Was he ever.

Pledger scored 12 of his career-high 38 points in overtime and Oklahoma broke a 19-game losing streak away from home with an 82-76 victory over Iowa State on Saturday night.

Oklahoma (11-9, 3-3 Big 12) blew a 15-point first-half lead, then rallied from six points down in regulation to tie the game at 67 on Pledger's 3-pointer.

Once in overtime, Pledger dominated, nailing consecutive 3s to put the Sooners up 75-72 and his steal and layup made it 77-72 with 1:40 remaining.

"It took a great performance by Steven Pledger here tonight," Oklahoma coach Jeff Capel said. "Steven was in a great rhythm offensively and I thought our guys did a good job finding him."

It was Oklahoma's first victory on the road since beating Utah in Salt Lake City on Dec. 12, 2009.

Melvin Ejim, benched in a starting lineup switch, responded with 19 points and 12 rebounds to lead Iowa State (14-8, 1-6), which has lost four straight. Jake Anderson and Diante Garrett each scored 18 for the Cyclones, who recovered from a terrible start to make it a game - and almost pull out the victory.

Pledger, whose previous best was 23 points, hit 12 of 20 shots from the field, including 7 of 13 from 3-point range. He also had three assists, two steals and a block with no turnovers while playing 44 of 45 minutes.

"He's a good player," Ejim said. "When a good player gets hot, it's hard to stop him. I think we were playing good defense. He was just making tough shots."

Cameron Clark scored 11 points for Oklahoma and Carl Blair added nine.

Oklahoma trailed 67-61 but scored the final six points of regulation, tying it on Pledger's 3-pointer from the right wing with 35.4 seconds left. A shot-clock violation gave the ball back to the Sooners with 0.4 seconds remaining, but the Cyclones got one more chance when Cade Davis threw the ball to the other end and out of bounds.

However, Ejim couldn't connect off an inbounds lob pass and the game went into overtime.

Oklahoma cooled off after making 13 of its first 17 shots, including 6 of 9 from 3-point range, giving the Cyclones a chance to come back. The Sooners, who had made just 26 percent of their 3-point shots in Big 12 play entering Saturday, missed nine straight from long range after their torrid start and finished 11 for 27 from behind the arc.

Iowa State, averaging a Big 12-best 8.8 3-point baskets per game, missed its first 12 shots from long range and finished 5 for 24.

"They hit tough shots that hit three parts of the rim and bounced in," Iowa State coach Fred Hoiberg said. "Ours were going in and out."

The Cyclones scored 10 of the first 12 points in the second half to erase Oklahoma's 38-30 halftime lead, then stayed within striking distance when the Sooners moved back ahead.

Pledger's 3-pointer hiked the lead to 51-44, but Iowa State came back once more and went up 54-53 when Garrett made consecutive 3s, drawing a roar from the crowd and forcing an Oklahoma timeout.

The lead then changed hands three times before Jamie Vanderbeeken sank two free throws to start a 9-2 run that gave Iowa State its 67-61 lead. Anderson capped the burst when he was fouled on an offensive rebound and made both free throws.

But Garrett missed an open 3-pointer and then was short on a layup, after which Pledger knocked down his tying 3.

"We knew they were going to make a run," Davis said. "We knew they were going to come out and try to get the momentum, get the crowd into it. Luckily for us, Steven was on fire shooting the ball. He kept us in the game the whole time."

Hoiberg was upset by what he saw as a lack of energy at the start of Wednesday night's 92-83 loss to Texas Tech, so he tweaked his lineup, starting Calvin Godfrey in place of fellow freshman Ejim.

But the Cyclones fell into an immediate hole as Oklahoma bolted to an 8-1 lead. The Sooners hit nine of their first 11 shots, and when Clark dunked off a lob from Carl Blair, they led 26-13.

The lead grew to 34-19 before Ejim scored six points in an 11-2 run that got Iowa State back in it.