Hield leads Sooners past Roadrunners

OKLAHOMA CITY — Cal State Bakersfield’s plan to slow Buddy Hield worked for a while.

Then he got loose and did his usual damage. Oklahoma’s senior star exploded for 16 of his 27 points in the final 13:23 to help the second-seeded Sooners knock off the 15th-seeded Roadrunners 82-68 on Friday in a West Region first-round game.

Hield made 8 of 14 shots in the game, including 3 of 6 3- pointers. It was enough for Bakersfield coach Rod Barnes to declare Hield the best player in the nation.

“He’s my Player of the Year because I think he’s been the most consistent player in the country this year,” Barnes said.

Hield entered the game as the nation’s No. 2 scorer at 25 points per game. Barnes said the Roadrunners watched how West Virginia slowed Hield by denying him the ball in the Big 12 tournament and held him to a season-low six points, and he said the Roadrunners would follow that blueprint against him.

They couldn’t quite pull it off.

“He’s a great player, and I feel like he just made his mind up more than he did early on because he saw his team needed that,” Bakersfield forward Matt Smith said. “That’s what great players do.”

The Sooners got away with making just 15 of 25 free throws and getting outrebounded 35-31.

“It’s a good first-round win,” Oklahoma coach Lon Kruger said. “I told our guys afterwards, I said, ‘ Hey, they caused us to play less than what we’d like to.’ But Bakersfield did that. Appreciate winning. Appreciate winning and playing again, because it’s not easy to do that, and proud of the guys for doing that.”

Isaiah Cousins scored 16 points and Jordan Woodard added 15 for the Sooners (26-7), who made 11 of 20 3-pointers and shot 50 percent overall.

The Sooners advanced to play No. 10 seed Virginia Commonwealth, which defeated Oregon State 75-67 earlier in the day.

Aly Ahmed had 16 points and eight rebounds, Kevin Mays had 14 points and eight rebounds and Dedrick Basile added 13 points for Bakersfield ( 24- 9), the Western Athletic Conference tournament champion.

Texas A&M 92, Green Bay 65 OKLAHOMA CITY — Danuel House scored 20 points as the Aggies pulled away in the second half to win their first tournament game since 2010, in a West Region first-round game against the Phoenix.

No. 3 seed Texas A&M (27-8) trailed by as many as eight points in the first half before using a 26-9 run to take control.

House was 8- of- 12 from the field and hit a pair of 3s for the Aggies, who shot 56.1 percent (32 of 57) in the win. Texas A&M faces the winner of the Texas-Northern Iowa game on Sunday.

Khalil Small scored a career- high 22 points to lead Horizon League tournament champion Green Bay (23-13).