Sooners survive wild Bedlam clash against Cowboys
Norman (KFOR) -- It's been two different seasons for the Bedlam rivals. Oklahoma State has struggled to find consistency while playing several true freshmen, while Oklahoma has spent much of the season ranked inside the AP Top 25.
However, you can you always throw the record out the window when it comes time to tip it off in this rivalry. That was certainly the case on Saturday as the game went down to the wire.
OSU took an 7-6 lead on a John-Michael Wright three, but trailed the rest of the half as OU went into the break up 31-26 after a Le'Tre Darthard three just before the buzzer.
In the second half things got interesting with several players entering foul trouble. OU's Sam Godwin went to the bench early in the second half after picking up his fourth foul. After John Hugley scored to give the Sooners a 35-33 lead, Godwin was animated on the sideline and whatever he said or did led the referees to issue him a technical foul. The technical foul also counts as a personal foul, so Godwin fouled out of the game while on the bench.
OU picked up three total technical fouls in the game and OSU jumped out to a massive advantage in free throw differential, helping the Cowboys keep afloat despite some struggles shooting the ball.
The fouls would even out the rest of the way as the game remained tight throughout. With under eight minutes to go, OSU grabbed some momentum and went on a 6-0 run to go up four.
The Sooners would respond by going on a 7-0 run to retake the lead on a Darthard three with just over three minutes left.
OSU battled over the final minutes, keeping the deficit at three with just seconds left. Cowboys had a chance to tie the game in the wanning seconds, but Rivaldo Soares stripped Javon Small on a drive and Otega Oweh recovered the ball to seal a chaotic 66-62 win for the Sooners.
Porter Moser has struggled against his rivals since taking over as the Sooners head coach, including being swept by OSU in three games last year, but his team finally prevailed over the Cowboys for just their second win in the last nine games against OSU.
Javon Small led all scorers with 17 points, while the Cowboys also got double-digit scoring efforts from John-Michael Wright (13 points) and Quion Williams (12 points and 10 rebounds).
Jalon Moore led OU with 15 points and was the teams only double-digit scorer. Darthard had 9 points off the bench, while both Soares and Milos Uzan tallied 8 points. Hugley and Javian McCoullum both chipped in 7 points.
The Sooners win pushes its record up to 18-6 overall and 6-5 in Big 12 play, trailing first-place Houston by just two games. The loss sends OSU's record down to 10-14 overall and 2-9 in Big 12 play where they sit in last place.
OU hits the road on Tuesday to play No. 13 Baylor, while the Cowboys have some time off before hosting No. 21 BYU on Saturday.