Javian McCollum overcame a right ankle injury to score a team-high 16 points as No. 15 Oklahoma held off host Cincinnati for a 69-65 Big 12 victory Saturday.
Otega Oweh added 14 points while John Hugley IV scored 11 for Oklahoma (15-3, 3-2 Big 12), which won on the road in Big 12 play for the first time in three tries this season.
Simas Lukosius paced Cincinnati (13-5, 2-3) with 16 points while John Newman III added 14 for the Bearcats, who lost for the third time in four games.
Cincinnati’s Josh Reed sank two free throws with 28.7 seconds remaining to slice the Oklahoma lead to 65-62. Oweh then missed the front end of a 1-on-1 and Cincinnati had a chance to tie. But the Bearcats were unable to get off a 3-pointer and Lukosius made just one of two free-throw attempts with 10 seconds left.
Rivaldo Soares drained a pair of free throws with six seconds left to ice the game for the Sooners.
Saturday marked the first meeting in Big 12 play between the two schools and the first since Cincinnati edged Oklahoma 56-55 on Dec. 29, 2011.
While Cincinnati is in its first season of Big 12 play, Oklahoma will leave the conference following this season for the SEC.
Cincinnati jumped out to an early 11-6 lead thanks to blocks from big men Aziz Bandaogo and Viktor Lakhin in the opening two minutes. Lukosius paced the Bearcats with 13 first-half points, including three 3-pointers.
Cincinnati went through an ice-cold shooting stretch when they missed nine straight shots and 12 of 13.
Oklahoma, which missed their first five shots of the game, finally took advantage by going on a 10-4 run and taking their first lead at 16-15.
The evenly played, back-and-forth first half ended in a 31-31 tie.
Oklahoma took a 43-38 lead when John Newman III drained a corner 3-pointer as the shot clock expired. But Le’Tre Darthard came back with a layup and Sam Godwin grabbed the rebound on a missed free throw.
McCollum hit the jumper in the lane to expand Oklahoma’s lead to 47-41. On the play, McCollum aggravated his right ankle injury from the first half and came out for medical treatment on the sideline.
McCollum returned less than two minutes later and converted a layup that put the Sooners up, 55-46, with 9:23 remaining.
–Field Level Media
