Xzayvier Brown scored 16 of his 21 points in the first half to show the way for Oklahoma in a 82-69 victory over Baylor in the College Basketball Crown semifinals Saturday in Las Vegas.
Tae Davis scored 11 of his 18 points in the final 12 minutes for the Sooners (21-15), who recovered after surrendering a 10-point lead early in the second half.
Oklahoma wrapped it up with a late nine-point run capped by a 3-pointer from Brown with 4:37 left which gave the Sooners a 72-61 lead. Brown added six rebounds and six assists.
Derrion Reid contributed 17 points and Nijel Pack added 15 points as Oklahoma advanced to Sunday’s title game. The Sooners will play West Virginia, which defeated Creighton in Saturday’s other semifinal.
The champion of the second annual event will win $300,000 of the tournament’s $500,000 NIL prize pool.
Tounde Yessoufou and Isaac Williams scored 15 points apiece as Baylor (17-17) fell to its former Big 12 rival. The teams were in the league together for 28 years before Oklahoma bolted for the Southeastern Conference in 2024.
Cameron Carr put up 14 points and 12 rebounds and Dan Skillings Jr. added 12 points for the Bears.
Baylor committed 12 turnovers to eight for opportunistic Oklahoma, which outscored the Bears 21-2 off those mistakes.
Oklahoma used an early 11-2 run to take a lead that it held the rest of the first half. Reid made three baskets in the run and Kuol Atak added a 3-pointer as the Sooners surged to a 16-8 lead.
Baylor answered with the next seven points and kept it close, pulling to within one point on six occasions, before Oklahoma closed the period with a 14-5 spree.
Pack triggered the run with a jumper and a 3-pointer. Brown finished it off with the Sooners’ final nine points to stake Oklahoma to its largest lead to that point at 45-35.
At the start of the second half, Williams scored seven quick points and Carr added two 3-pointers as the Bears forged a 48-all tie 4 1/2 minutes into the half.
Yessoufou gave Baylor its first lead since the opening minutes when he went end to end for a fastbreak layup that made it 52-51 with 13:16 left.
–Field Level Media
