University of Oklahoma Athletics
University of Oklahoma
Santa Clara
Pledger Keys 85-73 Win Over Santa Clara
November 26, 2011 | Men's Basketball
|
||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) -- Steven Pledger scored 26 points and Oklahoma fended off a late rally to beat Santa Clara 85-73 in Friday night's semifinals of the 76 Classic.
The Sooners (4-0) grabbed control with a 20-0 run that sandwiched both halves. They advanced to the championship game and will face Saint Louis on Sunday at 8 p.m. CT.
Andrew Fitzgerald had 12 points and a career-high-tying 13 rebounds for Oklahoma, and Sam Grooms added 12 points and and a team-high six assists while committing just one turnover.
Romero Osby fell one point shy of a double-double, finishing with nine points and a career-high-tying 10 rebounds.
Pledger finished 10-of-15 from the field and made four 3-pointers. His 26 points represented the second-highest total of his career.
Evan Roquemore made seven 3-pointers and finished with 27 points and 10 assists, while Kevin Foster had 19 for the Broncos (3-2), which made 11 3s in the second half to close the gap.
Pledger's layup started a string of 18 unanswered points to close the first half. Calvin Newell later stole the ball and made a reverse layup to beat the buzzer for a 42-19 halftime lead.
Foster broke Steve Nash's school record for career 3-pointers with his 264th late in the second half.
