No. 6 Oklahoma 96, Texas 78

NORMAN, Okla. (AP) _ The balance of No. 6 Oklahoma proved to be too much for Texas _ again. <br><br>The Sooners got 23 points from Ebi Ere, 20 points and 10 rebounds from Aaron McGhee and 20 points from

Sunday, February 24th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

NORMAN, Okla. (AP) _ The balance of No. 6 Oklahoma proved to be too much for Texas _ again.

The Sooners got 23 points from Ebi Ere, 20 points and 10 rebounds from Aaron McGhee and 20 points from Quannas White in a 96-78 victory Saturday night that locked up the No. 2 seed in the Big 12 tournament.

Hollis Price added 14 points and Jason Detrick scored 11 as the Sooners (22-4, 11-3 Big 12) beat Texas for the seventh straight time and won their 21st straight at home.

``It shows what we can do when everybody plays good on the same night,'' said Price, one of three Oklahoma players with five assists.

Texas (17-10, 8-6) got 22 points, eight assists and seven rebounds from point guard T.J. Ford. Brandon Mouton had 15, and James Thomas and Sydmill Harris 14 each, but the Longhorns more often than not seemed to wait for Ford to come through.

``They've got three guys with five assists and 20 assists as a team,'' coach Rick Barnes said. ``They're not counting on one guy to move the ball, pass the ball. That's where we're in trouble.

``He's having to shoulder way too much right now and he needs help, and we need to find a way to get him some.''

Ere scored 21 of his points in the second half. He recently lost his spot in the starting lineup, but had his best game since scoring 25 against Texas Tech on Jan. 12.

``Scorers are a little fragile sometimes,'' coach Kelvin Sampson said. ``Ebi, you've got to let him go. We ran some sets for him and got him the ball. When he's feeling it, you just keep feeding him.''

It was another strong game by McGhee, who has six double-doubles in the past eight games and has scored 20 or more in five of the past six.

Ere, Price and White each had three 3-pointers and Oklahoma finished with 12, a season high.

The Sooners also won handily despite not having Price, their leading scorer, for a long stretch in the second half. He got his fourth foul with 12:45 remaining and sat out 9 minutes, but Oklahoma continued to build its lead.

A free throw by Ford after Price's fourth foul made the score 57-47. After a 3-pointer by Ere and a driving shot by Ford made it 60-49, Oklahoma scored eight straight including four free throws by Ere to take a 68-49 lead. Two of the free throws came when Barnes was hit with a technical foul for arguing a call.

The Longhorns, after falling behind by 19, twice got within 14 but no closer.

``It shows how good our team is,'' Price said. ``If I go out, then we've got other guys that can come in. I think a lot of teams, if their lead guy was to go out of the game, they'd probably fall down in a slump. But our team just kept going.''

Price and White each made two 3-pointers in a 14-2 run that began midway through the first half and gave the Sooners a 26-16 lead. Texas went 7 1/2 minutes without a field goal during one stretch and twice fell behind by 15, but scored the final seven points of the half to get to 42-34 at halftime.