Sooners beat Nicholls St. 81-60 in Alaska tourney

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Cade Davis scored 18 points and No. 25 Oklahoma ended a three-game skid with an 81-60 victory over winless Nicholls State on Saturday in the fifth-place game of the Great Alaska Shootout.

Oklahoma (3-3) struggled early on with the scrappy Colonels (0-8), who twice built comfortable leads in the first half. Nicholls State led 39-32 with 1:22 left before the break.

Davis hit a 3-pointer and made two free throws to bring the Sooners within two at halftime, and although the Colonels pushed the lead back to 48-41 with 16:57, Oklahoma went on an 10-0 run and took the lead on a dunk by Tiny Gallon with 14:51 left in the game.

After Nicholls State regained the lead at 51-50 on a 3-pointer by Chris Iles, Davis hit a 3-pointer at the 12:59 minute mark and the Sooners never trailed again.

Gallon, a 6-foot-9, 290-pound freshman, scored all of his 15 points in the second half, and when he wasn’t pounding the ball inside, Davis was hitting from the outside.

He scored 11 of his 18 points in the second half, finishing 4 of 9 from 3-point range.

Three other Sooners were in double figures, including Tony Crocker and Steven Pledger with 14 apiece, and Tommy Mason-Griffin with 10.

Gallon also had 12 rebounds for Oklahoma, which avoided its fourth straight loss this week. The Sooners fell to Virginia Commonwealth last Saturday, and then dropped Great Alaska Shootout games to San Diego and Houston.

Dominic Friend and Fred Hunter had 14 each for the Colonels. Anatoly Bose added 12.