Tanner Groves scored a season-high 24 points to help Oklahoma beat Indiana State 87-63 on Friday and advance to the finals of the Myrtle Beach Invitational at Coway, S.C.
The Sooners advance to play Utah State in Sunday’s title game while the Sycamores will take on New Mexico State in the third-place game.
Oklahoma (4-0) shot 51.6 percent from the floor, their fourth consecutive game shooting better than 50 percent from the floor.
Groves was 10 of 15 from the field, hitting three of his five 3-point attempts.
The Sooners had 20 assists, including five from Elijah Harkless and multiple assists from all five starters.
Oklahoma got off to a slow start, beginning just 3 of 12 from the field.
But then Jordan Goldwire and the Groves brothers helped the Sooners seize the lead for good in the first half, fueling a 13-0 run over a four-minute span midway through the first half that put Oklahoma ahead 19-10.
Goldwire scored six during the run, Jacob Groves had five of his 11 points during that stretch, with Tanner Groves scoring the other bucket.
The Sycamores cut the lead to three in the opening minutes of the second half at 38-35 on Cameron Henry’s first 3-pointer of the game. From there the Sooners dominated.
Oklahoma reeled off a 27-8 run over the first 10 minutes of the half to all but put the game away.
Goldwire, a Duke transfer, added 14 points for the Sooners on 5-of-7 shooting, while Umoja Gibson had 11 points with four assists and three steals.
After missing all four of his shots in the first half, Gibson was 3 of 4 in the second half, and hit all five of his free throws.
Henry had a season-high 25 points, 14 in the second half, to lead the Sycamores (3-2). He also added eight rebounds. Micah Thomas added 12 and Cooper Neese 11.
Indiana State was just 6 of 27 (22.2 percent) from behind the 3-point line. The Sooners have held opponents to just 25.5% shooting from beyond the arc so far this season.
–Field Level Media
