Junior F Amath M'Baye The junior had 15 points and a career high 13 rebounds
for his first career double-double. M'Baye added a team-high
5 assists in 25 minutes. Amath
M'Baye 's Bio
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LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) -- Oklahoma coach Lon Kruger was happy with
his team's effort after Wednesday night's relatively easy 86-71 victory over Texas
Tech.
"Guys really moved the ball well," Kruger said. "I thought they made the extra
pass, shot it with confidence, made good plays for one another."
Steven Pledger scored 22 points for the Sooners and was 6 of 13 from 3-point range.
Romero Osby added 21 points and nine rebounds, and Amath M'Baye had 15 points
and 13 boards.
"I'm excited for him; that's big," teammate Sam Grooms said of M'Baye's double-double.
"He's been down on himself a little bit lately. He hasn't been doing what he thinks
he should do. . We've been on him to play like that. I'm happy for him today;
he went out there and played hard. He rebounded, he dominated."
Josh Gray led the Red Raiders with a career-high 26 points -- and earned Kruger's
respect.
"He's not just a terrific young player, but he's a terrific player," Kruger said.
"He's a guy that keeps pressure on you all the time, very quick with the ball.
He's got a good ability to get into the paint and finish plays, very tough to
stay in front of."
Jaye Crockett added 15 points and seven rebounds. Crockett's 3-pointer with 10:40
left in the first half gave the Red Raiders their only lead of the night, 18-16.
Late in the first half, Cameron Clark led a 14-3 run for the Sooners (17-8, 8-5
Big 12) to put them up 39-28 before Texas Tech cut the lead to eight at the half.
The Red Raiders (9-15, 2-11) got within four points on a Crockett 3-pointer 5
minutes into the second half, but that was the closest they would get the rest
of the game.
Pledger, whose 22 points were a season high, now has scored in double figures
in 14 of the last 18 games for Oklahoma.
The Sooners saw five players go into double digits, with Grooms scoring 12 points
and Clark adding 10 points and five rebounds. In spreading the ball around so
well, the Sooners totaled 17 assists, including five each by Grooms and M'Baye.
Gray had four steals, including back-to-back steals and layups with just over
9 minutes to go in the game. Gray single-handedly put Texas Tech back in the game
with six points in roughly 20 seconds to cut a 15-point lead down to nine, 68-59.
Jordan Tolbert scored 10 points and grabbed seven boards for the Red Raiders.
Oklahoma outrebounded Texas Tech 39-29, but it didn't show with an increase in
second-chance points made. What pushed the Sooners to victory were a few hot hands
offensively.
The Sooners shot 53 percent from the field and limited the Red Raiders to only
41 percent. Osby and Clark helped boost that stat for the Sooners, shooting 7
of 11 and 5 of 6, respectively. Osby now has shot over 50 percent from the floor
in 14 of his last 17 games.
"They were just extremely efficient tonight -- they made every shot," Texas Tech
coach Chris Walker said. "Every time we had a chance where we thought maybe we
can make them do something different, they made the shot."
Texas Tech pulled within seven on a Gray free throw with around 7 minutes left
in the game, but Osby and Grooms re-extended the lead for Oklahoma.
The Red Raiders dropped their seventh straight Big 12 game. Their last win came
against Iowa State on Jan. 23.
Oklahoma returns home to take on Baylor on Saturday.