OU Struggles Early but Pulls Away from Hawks

Sooners used big run in second half to come away with 73-49 victory.

Thursday, May 26th 2011, 12:07 pm

By: News On 6

OU Struggles Early but Pulls Away from Hawks

Originally Published: Jan 3, 2011 9:48 PM CDT

Grant Belcher
Oklahoma Sports Staff Writer

NORMAN, Oklahoma – For a while, OU might have been underestimating its opponent.

The Sooners clearly fell into the trap of playing down to their competition on Monday but eventually pulled away with a 73-49 victory over Maryland-Eastern Shore.

Steven Pledger led the Sooners with 19 points, and guard Cade Davis added 11 points and a career high 12 rebounds.

The victory kept the Sooners’ home record perfect at 8-0 this season, but OU has also failed to win a game played outside the Lloyd Noble Center (0-6).

Oklahoma (8-6) jumped out to an early lead and led by 15 in the first half when Steven Pledger hit a jumper with 5:55 left.

The Hawks, however, used a 16-6 run to cut the Sooner lead to 33-28 at halftime.

Maryland-Eastern Shore (3-10) continued to battle back to start the second half, and tied the game at 39 with just less than 13 minutes left in the game.

However, OU woke up and went on a 14-0 run over the next seven minutes and did not look back. The Sooners outscored the Hawks 34-10 over the game’s final 12 minutes.

Hillary Haley led Maryland-Eastern Shore with 17 points despite 6-for-18 shooting, and Kevin White scored 10.

OU wrapped up its non-conference schedule and will start off Big 12 play by hosting No. 16 Texas A&M at 3 p.m.