Sooners Fall to UTEP in All-College Classic

Originally Published: Dec 21, 2009 7:31 PM CDT

Gerald Goodridge
Oklahoma Sports Staff Writer

OKLAHOMA CITY -- When Willie Warren hit a routine jumper 4:57 into the first half to take a 10-9 lead, little did the Sooners know that it would be their last lead of the game. Oklahoma went on to lose to the Miners 89-74.

It was a shootout early, but balanced scoring in the first half for the Miners and 38.7 percent first-half shooting for OU led to 47-30 halftime deficit for the Sooners.

Warren was the star once again for Oklahoma, but slowed down a bit in the second half, only scoring 10 of his 26 points in the final 15 minutes. Turnovers also plagued the Sooners’ standout guard in the first half. He gavethe ball to UTEP 4 times.

From there on out it was the Miners’ game to lose, and every time the Sooners made a push, Randy Culpepper and the rest of the UTEP squad were there to respond.

Culpepper scored 17 of his 27 points in the second half and made 50 percent of his shots in the game to power the Miners to the big win.

UTEP forward Derrick Character also added in for the Miners, recording his third-straight double-double with his 11 points and 10 rebounds.

The Sooners are back in action New Year’s Eve against Gonzaga in Spokane.