Woodard, Hield help No. 24 Oklahoma rally past Oklahoma St

STILLWATER, Okla. (AP) Oklahoma pushed the pace in the second half and overwhelmed Oklahoma State.

Jordan Woodard scored a season-high 17 points and had a career-high five steals to help the 24th-ranked Sooners beat the Cowboys 64-56 on Saturday night. Oklahoma overcame a seven-point halftime deficit to sweep the regular-season series.

''We were stagnant in the first half a lot,'' Sooners coach Lon Kruger said. ''In the second half, we were not. We played good defense, got the tempo going, got some steals and got things going the other way. That is when we are at our best, when we are attacking and in transition. That comes from our defense.''

Buddy Hield scored 12 of his 15 points after halftime for Oklahoma (14-7, 5-4 Big 12). He had 27 in the previous meeting, an 82-65 win for the Sooners in Norman. Ryan Spangler had 13 points, nine rebounds and a career-high six assists.

Oklahoma held the Cowboys to 32 percent shooting in the second half.

''I'm proud of them,'' Kruger said. ''It is not easy to do that against a good ball club on the road. A good win.''

Phil Forte scored 15 points and Le'Bryan Nash had 12 for the Cowboys (14-7, 4-5), who lost at home for just the second time this season.

''We were aggressive, we imposed our will in the first half,'' Forte said. ''They (the Sooners) imposed their will in the second half. We made mistakes and they capitalized.''

Forte, the Big 12's No. 2 scorer, had just four points in the second half. He struggled to get free and took just seven shots. Nash, the conference's No. 3 scorer, played most of the game with foul trouble. He made 5 of 13 shots and had four turnovers.

Early in the game, Oklahoma threw a ball away and Isaiah Cousins eased up because he thought it would be a backcourt violation. Forte hustled, got to the ball first and made an easy layup to give the Cowboys a 7-2 lead.

A lob from Anthony Hickey to Anthony Allen for a monster jam got the crowd onto its feet and gave the Cowboys a 27-15 lead.

Oklahoma State led 32-25 at halftime and shot 48 percent, despite Nash playing just four minutes because he had two fouls. Forte scored 11 points on 3-for-3 shooting before the break.

Oklahoma scored the first five points of the second half. The Cowboys pushed their lead back to eight, but the Sooners responded again and a 3-pointer by Hield gave the Sooners a 40-38 lead.

Nash picked up his fourth foul with just over five minutes remaining. Michael Cobbins, Oklahoma State's rim protector, fouled out with 4:13 to play.

It was an opportunity lost for Oklahoma State, which was coming off a 64-53 win over Baylor on Tuesday night.

''OU feeds off transition points; we've talked about that for two days,'' Oklahoma State coach Travis Ford said. ''We did a lot of good stuff in the first half. We had some opportunities to get out but we didn't take advantage. We should have built a bigger lead.

---

TIP-INS

Oklahoma: Hield made all 10 of his shots from the field in the first meeting, but his only basket of this first half came with 7:50 left. He made all four of his field goals in the second half. ... Oklahoma made 4 of 6 3-pointers in the second half after making 2 of 8 in the first 20 minutes.

Oklahoma St.: Forte entered the game having made 28 consecutive free throws, and he made three more on Saturday before finally missing late in the first half. ... The Cowboys had just five assists on 19 baskets.

QUOTE OF THE NIGHT:

Cobbins, on Oklahoma State losing control of the game: ''We just came out flat in the second half; that's something you can't do in the Big 12.''

STAT LINES

Oklahoma State's ball movement bogged down in the second half, a big reason the Cowboys made just 1 of 12 3-pointers in the second half after making 3 of 7 before the break.

UP NEXT

Oklahoma: Hosts West Virginia on Tuesday.

Oklahoma State: At Texas on Wednesday.

---

Follow Cliff Brunt on Twitter: www.twitter.com/CliffBruntAP