Huskers Lower Boom on Sooners

Dallas - Freshman guard Jamel White scored 22 points, including nine straight in the final 2:16 of the game to lead Nebraska to a 69-63 victory over No. 22 Oklahoma on Friday in the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship quarterfinals at American Airlines Center.

 

The clutch play of White and fellow freshman guard Marcus Walker, who scored six points in the final 4:35 of the game, offset a barrage of 3-point shots from the third-seeded Sooners.

 

With the victory, Nebraska (19-12) advanced to Saturday afternoon’s second semifinal against against No. 17 Kansas at 3:20 p.m. The game will be televised nationally by ESPN2. Top-seeded Texas and No. 4 seed Texas A&M will meet in Saturday’s first semifinal contest.

 

Nebraska responded down the stretch after OU’s Austin Johnson connected on his fourth 3-pointer of the game with 6:24 left to give the Sooners a 49-48 lead. The lead then changed hands four times before a pair of Charles Richardson Jr. free throws with 3:15 to play gave Nebraska the lead for good at 56-55.

 

After that point, the Husker freshmen guards combined to score Nebraska’s final 13 points to pull out the victory. Walker hit a jumper with 2:41 to play to push NU’s lead to 58-55, before White delivered Nebraska’s next nine points. The Brooklyn, N.Y., native connected on 3-of-4 free throws to give NU a 61-56 advantage. OU countered with a pair of buckets to slice the lead to one point at 61-60 with 1:04 to play. White again delivered in the clutch hitting a jump shot with 42 seconds to play, followed by four free throws in the next 24 seconds to push the lead to 67-61 and secure the victory.

 

The Sooners made life difficult for Nebraska by connecting on 11-of-24 3-pointers in the contest. The Huskers did an outstanding job on the Sooners’ interior attack limiting Kevin Bookout to 10 points and Taj Gray to nine points. Oklahoma connected on just 12-of-34 field goals from inside the arc.

 

After trailing 27-23 at halftime, Nebraska set the tone for the remainder of the contest by scoring the first six points of the second half. White began his 18-point second half by scoring nine points in the first eight minutes after half. NU led 34-33 with 15:42 to play after a Wes Wilkinson 3-pointer, but OU used a 9-2 run behind a trio of 3-pointers to take a 42-36 advantage with 13:04 left. However, Nebraska quickly rallied to set the stage for the Huskers’ final push of the game.

 

The first half was a back-and-forth affair. Nebraska opened the game by putting up the game’s first seven points, before the Sooners got on the scoreboard with 16:30 to play in the first half, starting an 8-0 run to put OU ahead 8-7 at the 13:19 mark.

 

Nebraska countered with the game’s next six points to move to a five-point lead at 13-8 with 8:51 to play before halftime. The Sooners then relied on its perimeter game for the remainder of the opening half, connecting on five 3-pointers in the final 8 1/2 minutes of the first half to forge a 27-23 halftime edge. The Huskers’ got their offense in the first half from Marcus Perry who connected on a pair of treys to keep Nebraska close at intermission.

 

The Huskers hit just 38.1 percent from the floor in the first half, with the Sooners hitting 44 percent, including 5-of-9 from beyond the arc.

 

In addition to White’s 22 points, three Huskers finished with 10 points, including Walker, Wilkinson and senior Jason Dourisseau, who contributed a double-double by adding 10 rebounds.