Sooners rolled over by Cavs in Maui 74-56

Sooners rolled over by Cavs in Maui 74-56

Published Nov. 23, 2010 6:38 p.m. ET

BOX SCORE

By JOHN MARSHALL
AP Basketball Writer

LAHAINA, Hawaii (AP) -- Mike Scott had 27 points and 15 rebounds, and Virginia used a big opening run to roll over Oklahoma 74-56 in the loser's bracket of the Maui Invitational on Tuesday.

Virginia (3-2) bounced back after a lopsided loss to No. 13 Washington in the first round, building a 15-point halftime lead after its hot-shooting start and hitting 11 of 21 shots in the second half to prevent the Sooners from rallying.

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Will Sherrill added 11 points for the Cavaliers, who move on to the fifth-place game against Wichita State.

Oklahoma (3-2) had an opposite turnaround from the opening round, struggling at both ends after playing No. 8 Kentucky close. Reserve Tyler Neal had 16 points and Cade Davis finished with 15 for the Sooners, who had 17 turnovers that led to 24 points for Virginia.

The Cavaliers did almost nothing right in their tournament-opening blowout loss to Washington.

They shot poorly, hitting 4 of 16 from 3-point range, were plagued by sloppy turnovers while falling into a big hole early and had no chance of stopping the Huskies' shooters. Washington shot 59 percent and hit a school-record 17 from long range to bury Virginia 106-63, the Cavaliers' second straight lopsided loss.

The Cavaliers looked a lot better against an Oklahoma team that has talent, just not a lot of experience.

The young Sooners -- seven of the top eight scorers are underclassmen -- held their ground against one of the nation's most talented teams, rallying nearly all the way back from an 18-point deficit before falling 76-64 against No. 8 Kentucky.

Oklahoma's biggest problem was matching up with Wildcats phenom freshman Terrence Jones, who made it look easy at times on his way to 29 points and 13 rebounds.

Virginia doesn't have anyone as dynamic as the 6-foot-8 Jones, but it does have some shooters, as the Sooners quickly found out.

The Cavaliers scored the game's first 12 points and hit six of their first nine shots, opening with a 16-2 lead. They took much better care of the ball, too, turning it over once in the first half -- nine total -- after 12 in the opening 20 minutes against Kentucky.

Scott had his way inside, scoring 14 by halftime, and hit 13 of 15 free throws overall when the Sooners were forced to foul because they couldn't stop him.

Virginia was better defensively, too, hounding the Sooners into three turnovers and two missed shots their first five possessions, limiting their scoring to Davis and Andrew Fitzgerald -- 18 combined points -- over the first 17 minutes.

Neal gave the Sooners a nice lift off the bench, but no one else did much of anything. Fitzgerald, Oklahoma's second-leading scorer, never got into a rhythm, taking just four shots to finish with nine points, while no one else scored more than five.

Updated November 23, 2010

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