STILLWATER — The Sooners fell short in the Bedlam Series to the Oklahoma State Cowboys, 81-75, on Saturday. This brings OU to 12-10, 4-4 Big 12, this season.
Free throws played a big part in the loss as the Cowboys scored 36 points from the foul stripe. Early foul trouble for sophomore guard Steven Pledger and senior guard Cade Davis haunted the Sooners throughout the game.
In total, 70 free throws were shot from 49 fouls called. The 44 free throws shot by OSU are the most by any Big 12 team this season.
“Down the stretch there, I guess we couldn’t play without fouling,” OU coach Jeff Capel said. “And offensively in the second half, we struggled.”
The Sooners jumped out to an early 21-6 lead before the Cowboys scrapped their way back to within 5 by halftime. Oklahoma pushed the lead back up in the second half, to as much as 12, but were no match for the Cowboys.
OU got as close as two in the final minute of the game, but OU turnovers and OSU free throws sealed the Sooners’ fate.
Oklahoma was lead by sophomore forward Andrew Fitzgerald, who scored 18 points and grabbed 5 rebounds. Davis also scored 18 points, nine of those in the first seven minutes.
After scoring a career-high 25 points against Baylor on Wednesday, freshman wing Cameron Clark went scoreless in the game.
“We didn’t lose the game because of him,” Capel said. “We lost the game because of our inability to make tough plays. One of the things I told our guys coming in was that the team that usually wins this game, with this rivalry, is the tougher team, and I thought they were a little bit tougher.”
Sophomore Carl Blair scored 13 points with no assists despite turning the ball over six times. Going into Saturday’s contest, Blair was second in the conference in assists, averaging 5.3 per game.
Oklahoma is hoping to learn from this experience as it gears up for the toughest stretch of its season.
Next up for the Sooners will be another rivalry matchup against the Texas Longhorns at 8 p.m. Wednesday in Lloyd Noble Center.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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