Oklahoma State Surprises Oklahoma

Fourth-ranked Oklahoma brought out the best in struggling Oklahoma State.

The 16th-ranked Cowboys, who had lost five of eight, got a career-high 22 points from Ivan McFarlin and a double-double from Melvin Sanders to beat the Sooners, 79-72, in overtime Wednesday night at Stillwater, Okla.

McFarlin scored three consecutive baskets and had eight points in overtime, helping Oklahoma State, 19-6 overall and 6-5 in the Big 12, win without leading scorer Maurice Baker, who sat out his second consecutive game because of a sprained ankle.

“We needed to win it bad,” said Sanders, who had 12 points and 11 rebounds. “Probably nobody thought we could win, but this is going to help us out a lot.”

Oklahoma Coach Kelvin Sampson said he never doubted the Cowboys would give his team all it could handle, even though Oklahoma State didn’t play well in losing at Fresno State on Sunday without Baker.

“Basketball is a game of today,” Sampson said. “That was last Sunday. Today, they were good and that was a tough team out there tonight.”

Oklahoma (19-4, 8-3) got 27 points and 11 rebounds from Aaron McGhee, but scored only one basket in the final 1:30 of over- time.

McFarlin scored consecutive inside baskets on assists from Victor Williams to give Oklahoma State a 69-67 lead with 2:18 left. McFarlin then stole a pass took it the other way for a dunk and a four-point lead at the 1:57 mark.

“You have to make big plays and have to make defensive plays in order to make a big gap in the game,” McFarlin said. “Fortunately that steal, it made a big presence on the scoreboard.”

Fredrik Jonzen had 19 points for the Cowboys. Jason Detrick had 15 points for Oklahoma.

No. 3 Maryland 85, Georgia Tech 65--Lonny Baxter had 22 points and 10 rebounds for the Terrapins (20-3, 10-1 in the Atlantic Coast Conference) at College Park, Md.

Maryland had never won 10 of its first 11 conference games. Maryland, which last won the ACC regular-season title in 1980, has won seven in a row. The 20-3 start matches the 1974-75 team for best in school history.

Chris Wilcox had 14 points and 12 rebounds and Juan Dixon, despite missing his nine three-point shots, scored 14 for the Terrapins.

Isma’il Muhammad, Tony Akins and Marvin Lewis each had 15 points for Georgia Tech (10-15, 3-9).

No. 7 Alabama 52, South Carolina 51--Rod Grizzard scored 18 of his 20 points in the second half and the Crimson Tide (21-4, 9-2 in the Southeastern Conference) overcame a 15-point deficit at Columbia, S.C. Neither team scored over the final four minutes. South Carolina (14-10, 4-7)

No. 10 Kentucky 67, Vanderbilt 59--Tayshaun Prince scored 20 points at Lexington, Ky., and the Wildcats (17-6, 7-4 in the SEC) defeated the Commodores (14-10, 4-7) for the 18th consecutive time.

Matt Freije and Chuck Moore each scored 17 points to lead Vanderbilt, which has never won at Rupp Arena in 25 games.

No. 13 Miami 79, St. John’s 56--Elton Tyler scored 21 points at Miami as the Hurricanes (21-4, 8-4 in the Big East) pulled within a half a game of Connecticut for first place in the conference’s East Division.

Miami led 36-14 at halftime, holding visiting St. John’s (16-8, 6-6) to 15% shooting from the field.

Clemson 118, No. 19 Wake Forest 115--Edward Scott had career-highs of 30 points and 16 assists at Clemson, S.C. as the Tigers (12-13, 3-9 in the ACC) won in double overtime to end an eight-game skid.

After Darius Songaila of Wake Forest fouled out late in the first overtime, Clemson turned to its frontcourt duo of Ray Henderson and Chris Hobbs, and they scored 13 of the Tigers’ 17 points in the second overtime.

Craig Dawson scored a career-high 38 points, including a school record 11 three-point baskets, and Songaila had 24 points for Wake Forest (17-8, 7-4).

Hobbs finished with 24 points and 17 rebounds, and Tony Stockman scored 30 points for Clemson.

Wisconsin 64, No. 22 Indiana 63--Charlie Wills had 17 points and Kirk Penney scored the Badgers’ final points on a three-point basket with 2:18 to play as they defeated the Hoosiers at Bloomington, Ind., for the first time since Feb. 24, 1977.

Tom Coverdale had 17 points for Indiana (16-8, 8-3 in the Big Ten). Wisconsin is 15-11 and 8-5.