No. 5 Oklahoma 64, No. 16 Oklahoma St. 48

<br>NORMAN, Okla. (AP) _ After his first shot, Oklahoma guard Hollis Price should have known it was going to be better night than the last time he played Oklahoma State. <br><br>Price let fly with a long

Thursday, February 20th 2003, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

NORMAN, Okla. (AP) _ After his first shot, Oklahoma guard Hollis Price should have known it was going to be better night than the last time he played Oklahoma State.

Price let fly with a long 3-pointer as the shot clock expired. The ball banged off the backboard and through the basket, giving the fifth-ranked Sooners a 3-2 lead.

Price finished with 22 points Wednesday night as Oklahoma beat No. 16 Oklahoma State 64-48. It was a nice change from Jan. 13, when Price went 2-of-14 and scored six points in a 48-46 loss.

``I was just happy the ball went in,'' Price said.

It was one of two prayers that went in for the Sooners (18-4, 9-2 Big 12), who extended the nation's longest homecourt winning streak to 35 games. Quannas White threw up a one-hander early in the second half that went through as the shot clock expired, giving Oklahoma a 38-22 lead.

The Sooners led by as many as 23 in the second half and didn't allow Oklahoma State (19-5, 8-3) to get closer than 13 after that.

The Cowboys played much better than they did in a stunning home loss to Baylor on Saturday night, but shot just 28 percent (16-of-56).

``The last two days we had the best practices we've had in a while,'' coach Eddie Sutton said. ``But if you can't score, it just puts so much pressure on your defense.''

Oklahoma State's victory last month came on a disputed shot by Victor Williams with 3.6 seconds left. There was no debate about this one as Oklahoma remained tied with Texas for second place in the conference.

The Cowboys held Oklahoma without a basket for a five-minute stretch early in the first half while taking a 16-13 lead. But then they went just 1-for-12 from the field in the final seven minutes and Oklahoma took control with a 21-6 run.

De'Angelo Alexander started the spurt with two free throws. Kevin Bookout, who had 15 points and 12 rebounds, exploited single coverage to score four baskets. Ebi Ere and Price had 3-pointers.

The Cowboys went 1-for-6 to start the second half and Oklahoma widened its lead to 49-26. The final two points came on free throws by Price after Sutton was hit with a technical foul.

After falling behind by 23, the Cowboys scored 10 straight to get within 49-36 with 10:29 left. Then they missed three shots in close on one possession, blowing a chance to cut the deficit to 11. Ere came back with a 3-pointer that ended the threat, and the Cowboys didn't recover.

``That was just kind of a knife in the heart for us,'' Williams said. ``That kind of put us away, I thought.''

Williams led the Cowboys with 18 points. Melvin Sanders had just three after scoring a career-high 30 against Baylor.

``Our defense was outstanding. That was the big story for us,'' coach Kelvin Sampson said. ``We wanted to contest every shot. We wanted to get up and really take away certain kids' penetration. Our kids really had a firm grasp of the scouting report.''

Oklahoma State is 2-4 since a 15-game winning streak ended with a loss to Texas on Feb. 1.

``We haven't been playing good basketball as of late,'' Williams said. ``I can't give you an answer why, I can't give you reason. I just know if we're going to be competitive in the Big 12, we're going to have to get it back on track.''