Baylor
Oklahoma
Bears Defeated By No. 7 Oklahoma, 67-54
1/25/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 25, 2003
By STEPHEN HAWKINS
AP Sports Writer
WACO, Texas - Kevin Bookout scored a season-high 18 points and nine rebounds and Hollis Price came up big when things got close as No. 7 Oklahoma beat Baylor 67-54 on Saturday, the Sooners' 17th straight win in the series.
After Baylor (9-7, 0-5) got within 38-36 early in the second half, Price keyed two straight baskets for Oklahoma (13-3, 4-1) and the Bears never got closer.
Price drove into the lane for a basket to stretch the margin. Following two missed free throws by Baylor, Price penetrated again, this time dropping a pass to Bookout for an easy layup and a 42-36 lead with 16 minutes left.
By time Price fed Quannas White for a layup 4? minutes later, the Sooners led 48-39 en route to building a lead that got as high as 15 points.
Price finished with 17 points and five assists. Johnnie Gilbert had 10 rebounds for the Sooners, who had a 40-22 rebounding margin and outscored Baylor 42-12 in the paint.
Bookout, a freshman who has started every game for the Sooners, had 14 points and seven rebounds by halftime.
John Lucas led Baylor with 15 points and Carlton Dotson had 10, all in the first half.
Kelvin Sampson earned his 200th win in nine seasons at Oklahoma, matching Bruce Drake's 200 wins from 1939-55 for the second-most at the school. Billy Tubbs, who was a television analyst for the game, won 333 games in 14 seasons before being replaced by Sampson.
Sampson is 15-0 against Baylor.
The Bears' last win in the series came during the 1977-78 season when Dave Bliss, the current Baylor coach, was coaching the Sooners.
Four of Baylor's five Big 12 losses are to Top 25 teams, including Oklahoma State and Texas. The Cowboys have won 11 straight against Baylor, including 67-64 in overtime Tuesday, and Texas has won 10 in a row.
Oklahoma had three of its 11 turnovers in first two minutes of the second half, but Baylor managed to convert that into only two free throws.
The Bears still scored the first five points of the second half, getting within 38-36 when Lawrence Roberts went in strong for a short basket and then added a free throw.
After falling behind by 10 in the first half, consecutive 3-pointers by R.T. Guinn and Lucas capped an 8-0 Baylor run.
After Ebi Ere was fouled inside and made a free throw, Oklahoma scored three straight baskets off offensive rebounds. Ere's putback with 6:14 left pushed the Sooners' lead back to 29-22.
Still, Ere's shooting woes continued as he made just 3-of-12. After leading the Sooners in scoring eight of the first 12 games, he has made just 9-of-48 shots the past four games and his seven points Saturday matched his high during the stretch.
