Sooners keep rolling; OSU must regroup

STILLWATER, Okla. (AP) -- Oklahoma's basketball team went on the road to play Oklahoma State, got a total of 11 points from its top two scorers, fell behind by 13 in the second half and still won the

Sunday, March 5th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

STILLWATER, Okla. (AP) -- Oklahoma's basketball team went on the road to play Oklahoma State, got a total of 11 points from its top two scorers, fell behind by 13 in the second half and still won the game.

And coach Kelvin Sampson swears he wasn't surprised. "As this season's progressed, we've become a really good team," Sampson said Saturday night after a 59-56 victory. "It's gone under most people's radar screens, but this team has become really, really good at what we do.

"That's a tribute to this group of kids. They're really, really tough. I know a lot of people get excited about talent, but talent without toughness doesn't mean much. Our kids are really tough."

That was clear Saturday. The 21st-ranked Sooners (24-5, 12-4 Big 12) beat a team that had won 16 straight at home dating to last season, in front of a crowd stoked over senior night and the final game prior to the expansion of 62-year-old Gallagher-Iba Arena.

Eduardo Najera scored just nine points, and none in the final 18 1/2 minutes. J.R. Raymond scored only two. Yet Oklahoma won because Nolan Johnson scored a season-high 21 while stifling Oklahoma State's Desmond Mason, and because players such as Kelley Newton and Hollis Price made big baskets.

"I knew this game was not going to come down to Desmond or me. It was going to come down to the other guys," Najera said.

Johnson scored 12 of his points during a 23-6 run that saw Oklahoma turn a 46-33 deficit into a 56-52 lead. Newton sank two 3-pointers during the spurt and Price had five points.

At the other end of the floor, the Sooners held No. 13 Oklahoma State without a basket for just over five minutes. The Cowboys scored just 10 points in the final 10 minutes of the game and never tied it after OU's big run.

"We couldn't do anything on offense and get the ball in the hole," said Brian Montonati, who scored 15 for the Cowboys. "I thought we put our hands on our throat and squeezed as hard as we could, and we choked ourselves with a little help from them."

Make that a lot of help. Johnson made life miserable for Mason, who failed to make a field goal for the first time this season and finished with six points. And during their game-altering run, the Sooners made six straight shots and scored on seven straight possessions.

Oklahoma now heads to the Big 12 tournament as the No. 3 seed, having won four straight and 10 of 12. The only losses during that stretch were each by three points, at home against Oklahoma State and on the road against Kansas.

"We felt we let one slip away in Norman that we could have won," Sampson said. "We let one slip away in Lawrence, and I think every experience we've had, we've learned from it. Our kids have really learned from our failures this year."

Now Oklahoma State (23-5, 12-4) has to do the same. The Cowboys, who would have been the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament had they won Saturday, instead are the fourth seed. The loss might also affect their seeding in the NCAA tournament.

"This is still a really good basketball team," point guard Doug Gottlieb said. "We just have to show what we're made of, and we'll do that when we take that court in Kansas City."