Sooners Fall to Cincinnati at All-College Classic

Poor shooting hurts Oklahoma as it falls to the Bearcats, 66-56.

Thursday, May 26th 2011, 12:06 pm

By: News On 6

Sooners Fall to Cincinnati at All-College Classic

Originally Published: Dec 18, 2010 10:51 PM CDT

Grant Belcher
Oklahoma Sports Staff

OKLAHOMA CITY – Although the game was in the Sooners’ home state, it wasn’t enough.

Oklahoma remained winless outside of Lloyd Noble Arena on Saturday with a 66-56 loss to the Cincinnati Bearcats.

All six of the Sooners’ losses this season have come away from home, while all five of their wins have been in Norman.

OU struggled shooting the ball in all aspects, posting just a 33 percent mark from the field while Cincinnati hit 42 percent of its shots.

The Sooners also shot just 4-of-22 from 3-point range (18 percent).

The game started off slow and low-scoring, with just four total points between the teams for the first 4:23.

Cincinnati eventually picked up the pace midway through the first, going on a 9-0 run to take a 19-10 lead.

The Bearcats (10-0) held a seven-point halftime lead.

OU went on a solid run to open the second, with a Steven Pledger 3 and and old fashioned three-point play from Cade Davis to bring the Sooners to within one.

But Cincy responded with yet another 9-0 run to keep the Sooners at arm’s length and led by at least five for the remainder of the game.

Guard Carl Blair led OU with 15 points. Andrew Fitzgerald and Steven Pledger also posted double digits scoring.

Oklahoma will take on Sacramento State on Tuesday at 7 p.m. in Norman.