'Dogs Rally In Second Half, But Fall 71-58, at Oklahoma Thursday
December 10, 2010 | Men's Basketball
NORMAN, Okla. (AP) -Gardner-Webb cut a large lead to four points with an early second-half surge Thursday night before falling 71-58 at Oklahoma.
The Sooners (4-5) had lost five in a row away from the Lloyd Noble Center but were able to stay perfect at home this season by answering the Bulldogs' 3-point flurry with one of their own.
Gardner-Webb (6-6) cut a 19-point deficit to four by making five of its first six 3-pointers in the second half.
Cade Davis, Carl Blair and Cameron Clark put together their own 3-point rally by connecting on consecutive possessions for Oklahoma to restore the lead and put the game away.
Jon Moore led Gardner-Webb with 14 points, and Luke Davis scored 10.
Cade Davis scored 15 and Clark had a career-high 13 points for the Sooners.
Stefon Johnson hit a buzzer-beating 3 to cut the Bulldogs' deficit to 34-18 at halftime, and four different players combined to go 5-for-6 from 3-point range to start the second half for Gardner-Webb.
Luke Engelken, Luke Davis and Brian McNair connected during a 9-0 spurt that whittled the deficit to 41-37 with 13:12 to play. That prompted Sooners coach Jeff Capel to call time out and put Andrew Fitzgerald back in the game despite three fouls.
Fitzgerald immediately spun past Santoine Butler and converted a three-point play, and Cade Davis restored the lead to double digits with a 3-pointer.
After getting back within striking distance, Gardner-Webb had just one basket over the next 5 minutes. When Clark hit the last of the Sooners' three straight 3-pointers, it pushed the lead to 63-47 with 4:38 remaining.
The Bulldogs fell behind early by missing nine of their first 10 shots and didn't make their second basket until more than 10 minutes had elapsed.
The Sooners pulled away early in the game with a 17-3 run. Clark also had two steals in Oklahoma's aggressive zone defense, and he and Steven Pledger combined to hit six straight free throws to push the lead to 31-12 with 2:29 left in the first half.
Davis scored all 10 of his points in the second half, and Luke Engelken added nine for the Runnin' Bulldogs by hitting all three of his 3-point shots.
Pledger led Oklahoma with 20 points and Fitzgerald added 17 for the Sooners.
"I thought we were tentative early, and that hurt us, but we got in a little bit of a flow and to our kids' credit, they responded and certainly made a game of it," said GWU head coach Chris Holtmann. "We just couldn't get over the hump."
Gardner-Webb will continue its road trip on Saturday, traveling to face Arizona State at 2 pm ET in Tempe. The game will mark the team's third game in a different time zone in five days.
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