Oklahoma uses late run to pull away from East Texas A&M

Jeremiah Fears scored a game-high 20 points as Oklahoma pulled away late from East Texas A&M in an 84-56 win on Thursday night in Norman, Okla.

Duke Miles had 19 points and hit 3 of 6 three-pointers and Glenn Taylor Jr. added 16 points for Oklahoma.

TJ Thomas, Scooter Williams Jr. and Josh Taylor each scored nine points for East Texas A&M.

Oklahoma (4-0) used a 24-6 run in the second half to seal the win. Fears hit a layup with 7:09 left to give the Sooners a 62-50 lead and begin the surge, which was capped by Jake Moser’s three-pointer with 41 seconds left.

Throughout the first half, Oklahoma appeared ready to pull away on several occasions. Down 13-11, the Sooners went on a 9-0 run as they used their full-court press to suffocate the Lions.

Oklahoma held East Texas A&M (1-5) scoreless for more than three minutes and took a 20-13 lead. But Williams sank a jumper and hit two free throws to cut the Sooners’ lead to 20-17 with 7:14 left in the first half.

Oklahoma pushed its lead to 37-29 on Miles’ 3-pointer with 2:04 left in the half. Williams answered with a layup that brought the Lions within 37-31.

After a defensive stop, East Texas A&M got an offensive rebound off a missed free throw and Taylor finished a layup to cut the Sooners’ lead to 37-33, prompting Oklahoma coach Porter Moser to call a timeout.

The Sooners went into halftime with a 38-33 lead. They shot 44.8 percent from the field in the first half and only 20 percent from three. Oklahoma turned the ball over on its first possession of the second half and gave up an offensive rebound and putback to Demarco Bethea, who finished with five points.

But an 8-0 run that featured a layup from Sam Godwin (four points, nine rebounds) and three-pointers from Jalon Moore (nine points) and Fears gave Oklahoma a 46-36 lead.