OU Men's Hoops Downs UTEP In Old Spice Classic

The OU men's basketball team has plenty to be thankful for.

The Sooners (3-0) stormed out to a 15-0 lead and held on to beat UTEP (1-2) 68-61 Thursday night in the opening round of the Old Spice Classic.

Romero Osby led the way for OU, scoring 16 points and gobbling up 10 rebounds.

It was looking like a comfortable OU win as the Sooners held a 60-44 with a little over seven minutes to play, but the Miners wouldn't quit. UTEP used a 16-4 run to cut the Oklahoma lead to 64-60 with just over a minute left, but Steven Pledger's 3-ball with 1:03 left stopped the bleeding and put the Sooners' lead at seven. Pledger's 12 points was second-best on the team.

UTEP had three players in double-digits, led by Chris Washburn's 12 points.

OU will play the winner of Clemson and Gonzaga in the tournament semifinals Friday night at 6:30 p.m. CST.