PHILADELPHIA – Villanova captured the late lead and held on despite a pair of Oklahoma 3-point attempts in the final 30 seconds to earn the 70-66 victory at Wells Fargo Center on Saturday afternoon.
The Sooners led for 30-plus minutes in a contest that witnessed seven lead changes.
Grant Sherfield led the Sooners with 21 points and finished 7-of-16 from the field, including six 3-pointers.
Jacob Groves and
Tanner Groves tallied 14 points apiece.
Oklahoma (6-2, 0-0 Big 12) entered halftime with a 34-32 advantage and battled with Villanova in the second half.
The Sooners recaptured the lead on a
Sam Godwin layup with 3:46 left. Villanova (3-5, 0-0 BIG EAST) responded with back-to-back layups and never relinquished its advantage.
Sherfield buried his sixth 3-pointer with 26.1 seconds left and narrowed the VU lead to two.
The Wildcats finished the day at the free throw line, making two of their final four attempts.
The Sooners jumped out to an early lead to start the contest after a 3-pointer and jumper by J. Groves, who scored five of his 12 points in the first two minutes. OU pushed its lead to eight after a pair of 3-pointers by J. Groves and Sherfield prior to the first media timeout.
Oklahoma's realized its largest lead of the contest after
Bijan Cortes buried a corner 3-pointer with 13:18 on the clock, giving the Sooners the 20-9 lead.
VU put together a 10-0 run over the next eight minutes.
Sherfield completed the 4-point play to give OU back the momentum and drained a three with 2:36 left in the half to again push Oklahoma's lead back to eight (32-24).
The Wildcats concluded the half on an 8-2 run.
The Sooners won the battle of the boards, securing 12 more rebounds (31-19) than the Wildcats. OU finished 10-of-23 from deep (43.5%) and 24-of 50 from the field (48.0%).
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Oklahoma hosts Kansas City on Tuesday, Dec. 6 at 7 p.m. at Lloyd Noble Center.