Sooners Defeat Eagles, 71-63

OU needed overtime to knock off North Carolina Central.

Thursday, May 26th 2011, 12:02 pm

By: News On 6

Originally Published: Nov 15, 2010 11:48 PM CDT

Grant Belcher
Oklahoma Sports Staff Writer

NORMAN, Oklahoma – If the Sooners played the entire game like they did in overtime, they wouldn’t have needed an overtime in the first place.

OU was perfect from the field in the extra period, defeating North Carolina Central 71-63 at home on Monday.

The Sooners went into the final period tied at 58 with the Eagles, but hit all four field goals and all four free throws to pull out the victory.

OU actually trailed by three with the clock ticking down at the end of regulation.

In a hectic play, the Sooners’ Calvin Newell lost the ball to an NCCU defender, but was able to recover and fire a pass to guard Steven Pledger.

Pledger had not had a good shooting night up to that point, hitting only 2-of-12 shots, but he hit the one that counted.

Pledger’s 3-pointer with 15 seconds left proved to be the game-tying shot and allowed the Sooners to run away in overtime.

The long ball was just OU’s second 3 of the game (they finished regulation 2-of-20 from beyond the arc).

Andrew Fitzgerald led the Sooners with 22 points and nine rebounds. Nick Thompson produced a solid overall game with six points, seven assists and 12 boards.

Oklahoma stole a win despite shooting 33 percent from the floor and 18 percent from long range.

The Sooners will host Texas Southern on Thursday at 7 p.m. in Norman.