Sooners stiff-arm Rams

Oklahoma City (Dec. 20): Sophomore Larry Sanders tied a career-high with 16 points for VCU, but fourth-ranked Oklahoma proved too much to handle Saturday night, when the Sooners earned an 81-70 win in the All-College Classic at the Ford Center. Sanders made 6-of-8 field goal attempts and blocked three shots for the Rams (7-4), who were […]

December 21, 2008; 3:38 PM • by Valerie Catrow

Oklahoma City (Dec. 20): Sophomore Larry Sanders tied a career-high with 16 points for VCU, but fourth-ranked Oklahoma proved too much to handle Saturday night, when the Sooners earned an 81-70 win in the All-College Classic at the Ford Center.

Sanders made 6-of-8 field goal attempts and blocked three shots for the Rams (7-4), who were facing former VCU coach Jeff Capel. Capel led the Rams from 2002-06 and guided the school to the 2005 NCAA Tournament.

Freshman Bradford Burgess scored a career-high 15 points and grabbed seven rebounds for VCU.

Oklahoma (11-0) is known for prized NBA prospect Blake Griffin, but it was Sooner guard Tony Crocker who ultimately proved to be the Rams’ undoing. Crocker finished with a game-high 26 points and hit 5-of-6 3-point attempts.

Crocker hit back-to-back treys at the end of the first half to spark an 8-0 Sooner run. After a period that featured eight ties and 10 lead changes, Oklahoma took a 42-33 lead into the locker room.

The Sooners would not trail again and would lead by as many as 20 in the second half.

Griffin finished with 18 points and seven rebounds for Oklahoma, well below his season averages of nearly 26 points and 15 rebounds.

VCU returns to the floor on Saturday, Dec. 27 when it hosts in-state rival Hampton at the Alltel Pavilion at the Stuart C. Siegel Center at 7:30 p.m.

– The information above was provided by Chris Kowalczyk at VCU

December 21, 2008 3:38 PM 0