Sooner Men Crush Coppin State, 92-65

News9.com

NORMAN, Oklahoma – The Oklahoma men's basketball team recovered from a scare in its first game to crush Coppin State 92-65 Friday.

The Sooners trailed only once all night, when the score was 3-2 less than two minutes into the game. Moments later, OU held a 7-6 lead before going on the biggest run of the night.

Coppin State did not score at all in the next nine minutes, allowing OU to score 23 consecutive points. That run essentially put the game away, and Coppin State never drew within 16 points after that.

With the score so lopsided most of the night, a total of 14 different Sooners saw playing time and 11 of them scored. Steven Pledger led the way with 20 points, and Calvin Newell added 14 off the bench. Romero Osby recorded the game's only double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds.

The Sooners dominated the boards all night, particularly on the offensive end. They outrebounded Coppin State 61-27, and had more offensive rebounds (28) than Coppin State had total rebounds (27). Those offensive rebounds resulted in 28 second-chance points.

Coppin State's Tony Gallo led all scorers with 22 points, but Logan Wiens was the only other Eagle to score more than nine points. After falling so far behind early in the night, the Eagles began repeatedly attempt 3-pointers without success. They finished just 9-of-33 from beyond the arc.

The 27-point blowout came one week after OU squeaked past Idaho State by just four points. The Sooners' 92 points are the most they have scored since the season opener in 2009, when they put up 95 points against Mount St. Mary's.

OU will face its opponent from a major conference in its next game against Washington State at 10:30 p.m. Thursday.