No. 20 Oklahoma 100, North Texas 72

Sunday, December 10th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

NORMAN, Okla. (AP) -- After losing in a slowdown game last week, No. 20 Oklahoma got its running game going against North Texas and the result was predictable. The Sooners came up with 25 turnovers and got 28 points from Aaron McGhee in a 100-72 victory Saturday night. The Mean Green were no match for Oklahoma (6-1), which had more points by halftime than it did in a 60-55 loss at Mississippi a week earlier. "Most teams that play Mississippi, it's going to be alow-scoring game," coach Kelvin Sampson said. "They would hold the ball for the entire shot clock and shoot the ball with under 10seconds to go. "We've run too many plays in the last two or three games. Tonight, we got shots out of transition. We created a lot of offense for our self tonight." North Texas (1-6) did its part to help. The Mean Green committed10 of their turnovers during a first-half stretch in which they were outscored 30-2. "We've got to do something with this turnover problem we're having," said coach Vic Trilli, whose team came in averaging 23 turnovers per game. "They've got quick guards. They're on you the whole time." McGhee, a forward, was 13-of-16 from the field and made both his3-point tries to stop a three-game stretch in which he had failedto score in double figures. "We tried everything we could to try to stop him from catching the ball on the block," Trilli said. "Three feet, 4 feet from the basket, he's not going to miss very many." The Sooners (6-1) had 59 points by halftime, four more than they scored a week earlier in their only loss of the season, at Mississippi. North Texas committed seven straight turnovers during Oklahoma's big run when the Mean Green went nearly nine minutes without afield goal. A shot inside by the Mean Green's Josh Richardson tied it at 10with 13:06 remaining. From then on, it was all Oklahoma. The Sooners scored on 13 straight possessions and needed just two second-chance baskets during that stretch, taking a 40-12 lead. The only points for North Texas during that time were two free throws. The Mean Green had 12 turnovers and missed all six of their shots before Chris Davis finally scored on a follow shot with 4:27remaining to make the score 47-20. The game was such a rout that junior Michael Cano, an Oklahoma walk-on who usually plays only in the closing minutes of routs, sawtime in the first half for the first time in his career. Nolan Johnson, Kelley Newton and Daryan Selvy scored 12 each for the Sooners. Bryan Lucas and Chris Davis had 19 apiece for North Texas.