University of Oklahoma Athletics
University of Oklahoma
6-1,0-0Big 12
Ole Miss
6-1,0-0SEC
Late Push Seals Championship Game for Sooners
November 27, 2022 | Men's Basketball
KISSIMMEE, Fla. (AP) — Grant Sherfield scored 12 points and Tanner Groves scored 10 and Oklahoma beat Ole Miss 59-55 on Sunday in the final of the ESPN Events Invitational title game.
Following Myles Burns' dunk with 4:26 that gave the Rebels a 55-52 lead, Ole Miss proceeded to miss its final eight shots and Oklahoma secured the win with a 7-0 run.
"What I was really pleased with was how we finished off games defending," said Oklahoma head men's basketball coach Porter Moser. "You look at from two weeks ago to playing these close games, it's holding teams to a low amount of field goals the last four or five minutes."
The Sooners led 34-32 at halftime as neither team ever managed a double-digit advantage.
OU (6-1) has won six straight since its season-opening night loss against Sam Houston in which the Bearkats beat the Sooners 52-51 in Norman, Oklahoma.
Off the Oklahoma bench, Sam Godwin added 11 points by shooting 5 for 7 and Bijan Cortes 10 made all four of his shot attempts.
"We got some really good contributions off the bench and I thought Bijan really relieved some pressure off of Grant," said Moser. "Because they were so into Grant and it relieved pressure to have a second (point guard)."
Amaree Abram scored 17 for Ole Miss (6-1) and reserve TJ Caldwell 10 shooting 4 for 6. Ole Miss missed a chance to get to 7-0 for the first time since the 2007-08 season.
Oklahoma and Ole Miss entered having met four previous times splitting the series. The Sooners won the last meeting between the two programs, beating the Rebels 95-72 in the first round of the 2019 NCAA Tournament.
UP NEXT
Oklahoma travels to Pennsylvania to take on Villanova in the Big 12-BIG EAST Battle on Saturday, Dec. 3 at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.
