West Virginia Falls To Oklahoma 76-62
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) - Buddy Hield scored 29 points to lead No. 3 Oklahoma to a 76-62 victory over No. 10 West Virginia on Saturday.
Oklahoma (21-5, 9-5) stayed close in the Big 12 race, tying the Mountaineers and Baylor for second place behind Kansas.
In a second half of several scoring swings, Hield helped put Oklahoma in control. He capped a 9-0 run with a 3-pointer to put the Sooners ahead 61-52 with 5:22 left, silencing the home crowd.
Jaysean Paige scored 11 of his 13 points in the second half for West Virginia (20-7, 9-5), but the Mountaineers couldn't answer with their own decisive run.
Isaiah Cousins added 12 points and Jordan Woodard had 11 for Oklahoma, which was coming off three losses in four games after spending three weeks at No. 1.
Tarik Phillip led West Virginia with 17 points. The Mountaineers, who were alone in first place two weeks ago, have lost three of four.
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Hield often got ahead of West Virginia's defense for layups, and nifty passing in the halfcourt enabled him to get open outside for shots. He made five 3-pointers to give him 109 this season, breaking the school record of 105 set by Nate Erdmann in 1997.
After leading only briefly in the first half, West Virginia scored 11 points in the first 2 minutes of the second half to grab the lead, only to see the Sooners go on a 17-4 run.
West Virginia put together its final burst behind Paige, who made four free throws, a fadeaway jumper and a fast-break layup to knot the score at 52-all with 7:48 left.
But the Mountaineers went nearly 4 minutes until their next basket.
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