Pledger Leads Sooners To Big Win Over South Carolina State

The Oklahoma Sooners notched it 11th win of the season with an 83-48 win over South Carolina State Wednesday night.

Steven Pledger paced the Sooners the whole night and finished with 22 points and five rebounds.

South Carolina struggled to get into rhythm early and with a fast moving first half of play, that allowed the Sooners to build a lead.

Midway through the first the Sooners were up 15-8 after South Carolina State went more than seven minutes without scoring.

Pledger tallied 12 points in the first half alone while Andrew Fitzgerald helped with 10 and Romero Osby had 12 rebounds to go with eight points to give OU a 15 point lead at the break.

Oklahoma scored nearly half of its first half points on second chance points and they out rebounded the Bulldogs 29-15 to help them to their 39-24 halftime lead.

The Sooners slowly increased their lead in the second, despite some wild shooting and sloppy play to start the half.

With just over 11 minutes left OU was up 54-36 and Osby set a new career high with 15 boards—his previous high was 10.

Despite the Sooners only shooting 37 percent midway through the second, they continued to push the lead thanks to continued positive rebounding as well as scoring by Pledger.

Oklahoma continued to pound the ball in the paint as well as take advantage of turnovers by South Carolina State.

The Sooners pummeled the competition in rebounding, grabbing 63 boards to South Carolina State's 36.

In the end, OU would come away with its fifth consecutive win with an 84-48 win over the Bulldogs.

Pledger tallied his fifth 20-point game of the season finishing with 22 points and five rebounds in 30 minutes of play.

Osby grabbed a total of 18 rebounds for a new career high. He also added 10 points and three steals.

South Carolina State was led by Shaquil Barber who scored 12 points and tallied two rebounds.

The Sooners shot 40 percent from the field and went 6-of-21 from the three point line. The Bulldogs went 34 percent from the field and 2-of-16 from behind the arc.

The Sooners take a short break before returning to action on Dec. 29 at Cincinnati. Tipoff is set for 8 p.m.