Oklahoma 88, Arizona 67

(SAN JOSE, Calif.) - Arizona wouldn't let Oklahoma play its inside game, so Hollis Price went outside. <br><br>Price scored 26 points, including a season-high six 3-pointers, to lead No. 2-seeded Oklahoma

Thursday, March 21st 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

(SAN JOSE, Calif.) - Arizona wouldn't let Oklahoma play its inside game, so Hollis Price went outside.

Price scored 26 points, including a season-high six 3-pointers, to lead No. 2-seeded Oklahoma past third-seeded Arizona 88-67 in the West Regional semifinals Thursday night.

Oklahoma (30-4) hadn't reached a regional final since 1998. Now the Sooners will play the winner of the game between UCLA and Missouri.

Arizona (24-10), which lost to Duke in last year's NCAA championship game, could not overcome the Sooners' tough defense or Price, whose accurate outside shooting kept Oklahoma in it early before a sustained second-half rally.

Jason Gardner, probably playing his last college game, led the Wildcats with 14 points. Luke Walton, the son of former UCLA and NBA great Bill Walton, had nine points and seven assists.

With Duke's loss to Indiana on Thursday, both participants in last season's final were knocked out within 30 minutes.

Aaron McGhee finished with 23 points and 10 rebounds for Oklahoma, with 21 points in the final seven minutes as the Sooners turned a close game into a blowout.

The Wildcats singled him out after he averaged 25.5 points and 8.5 rebounds in the Sooners' first two tournament games. But they apparently forgot about Price.

Oklahoma jumped out to an 8-2 lead, as Price made two 3-pointers. But the Sooners went scoreless for more than five minutes, and the Wildcats narrowed the gap before taking a 10-8 lead on Rick Anderson's jumper.

The Wildcats shut down McGhee, and Oklahoma had to rely on its perimeter shooting. Price carried the Sooners, with 22 of their 33 points before halftime.

The Wildcats took a 28-23 lead on freshman Will Bynum's acrobatic layup with 5:31 to go, and the Wildcats stretched their lead to as many as seven points on the way to a 37-33 halftime edge.

Price made all of his 3-points by the break.

He made a mistake when he lost the ball at midcourt, and Gardner snatched it up as it rolled toward Arizona's basket. Gardner outran Price for the basket and got fouled to give the Wildcats a 44-40 lead.

But the Sooners went on an 11-0 run, capped by Ebi Ere's 3-pointer, to go up 51-44. They were able to slow down the speedy Wildcats during the spurt, and kept the game at their pace throughout the rest of the half.