No. 4 Oklahoma 73, Kansas St. 62

NORMAN, Okla. (AP) _ After having a tough time finding the basket in the first half, No. 4 Oklahoma beat Kansas State by hitting nearly everything in sight for a while. <br><br>The Sooners scored on nine

Sunday, February 17th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

NORMAN, Okla. (AP) _ After having a tough time finding the basket in the first half, No. 4 Oklahoma beat Kansas State by hitting nearly everything in sight for a while.

The Sooners scored on nine of 10 possessions, including seven in a row, during a 19-3 run that sent them on their way to a 73-62 victory Saturday.

Aaron McGhee scored 22 points and Jason Detrick had 21 for Oklahoma (20-4, 9-3 Big 12), which shot 57 percent in the second half after going 11-for-31 in the opening 20 minutes.

``We got out and pushed the ball a little bit harder in transition and got a couple easy baskets,'' said McGhee, who had 15 second-half points. ``I think once K-State got out of their zone, they didn't have an answer for our plays.''

Kansas State (10-13, 4-8) was effective with its 2-3 zone during the first half, when there were 11 lead changes and Oklahoma never led by more than five. Guards Hollis Price and Ebi Ere each went just 1-for-7, but Detrick took up the slack by scoring 15 points.

Nine of those came on 3-pointers, the final one coming just before the buzzer to give the Sooners a 35-32 halftime lead.

The Sooners only led 39-37 five minutes into the second half before starting their run with a short jumper by McGhee. Price followed with a 3-pointer, then assisted on consecutive baskets by Jabahri Brown and McGhee that made the score 48-37.

A 3-pointer by Larry Reid stopped the run, but only briefly. Oklahoma followed with 10 straight points, all from Ere and Detrick, to take a 58-40 lead. Kansas State got no closer than 11 after that.

``They were too much for us in the second half and their athleticism caught up with us,'' Kansas State coach Jim Wooldridge said. ``That one little stretch, that was the killer.''

Detrick, a junior college transfer, was making just his fourth start and his first in 11 games. He started in place of Ere, who averages 14.6 points but had scored in single digits in the previous three games.

``Coach just gave me an opportunity, and any time you get a chance like that you just have to go out and make the best of it,'' Detrick said.

Ere finished with 13, 10 in the second half. He was just 5-of-15 from the field and Price was 3-of-11, but the Sooners offset that with 17 offensive rebounds.

``Our guards aren't shooting the ball well, but you know what? Good teams win when they're not shooting well,'' Oklahoma coach Kelvin Sampson said. ``For us to get 17 offensive rebounds in this game is outstanding.''

Reid scored 14 for Kansas State, which dropped to 0-8 on the road this season. Matt Siebrandt, Parvis Pasco and Tony Atchison all scored 12.

Oklahoma has now won 20 games in five straight seasons.