Jalon Moore powered inside for 22 points and eight rebounds as Oklahoma snapped a four-game skid, pulling away late for an 82-62 win over South Carolina on Saturday in Norman, Okla.
Jeremiah Fears stuffed the stat sheet with 16 points, nine rebounds and eight assists, as the Sooners (14-4, 1-4 Southeastern Conference), won a league game for the first time as a new member of the SEC.
Kobe Elvis scored 12 points, all on triples, helping Oklahoma surge after trailing by four points early in the second half.
Morris Ugusuk scored 15 points for error-prone South Carolina (10-8, 0-5), which committed 16 turnovers in losing its fifth straight.
The Gamecocks’ Collin Murray-Boiles produced 11 points, 10 rebounds and a career-high five steals before fouling out with 5:07 left.
Jacobi Wright added 10 points and five assists for the Gamecocks, who continue to struggle with ball handling as guards Jamarii Thomas and Myles Stute are sidelined with leg injuries.
Oklahoma pulled away with a late 15-0 run, most of it after Murray-Boyles fouled out. Moore scored six of the points in the spree and Elvis added a 3-pointer as the Sooners stretched their lead to 74-54 with three minutes left.
In the first half, Oklahoma never trailed. In the final five minutes of the period, the Sooners got their biggest lead with a 10-2 run, triggered by 3-pointers from the same spot on the floor by Elvis.
A breakaway slam by Moore finished the run and made it 32-24. But at the halftime buzzer, Ugusuk knocked in a 40-foot heave from just inside the midcourt stripe to cut the deficit to 34-30.
The Sooners made 56 percent of their shots from the floor and 8 of 17 (47.1 percent) from 3-point range, while the Gamecocks hit 41.2 percent from the floor and 9 of 24 (37.5 percent) from deep.
South Carolina also was hindered by an 11-for-21 performance from the free-throw line.
–Field Level Media
