Mizzou hopeful following victory over OU

NORMAN, Okla. -- Mired in a slump that dropped them out of the Top 25 and drew even more attention to an ongoing NCAA investigation, a rare win at Oklahoma provided a glimmer of hope for the Missouri Tigers.

The Tigers (7-6, 2-1 Big 12) overcame a 12-point deficit early in the second half and restored some dignity to a team that started the season with its eyes on the Final Four.

Missouri coach Quin Snyder said Saturday's 79-75 overtime win provided the Tigers a chance to start again.

"When you see all that stuff out there, I think it's incumbent upon you as a coach to provide some hope," Snyder said. "We've had a lot of situations where we've had to have rebirth."

The Tigers have spent much of the season shrugging off questions about the NCAA investigation and allegations of illegal payments to players. It's grown uglier recently with the release of jailhouse conversations from former guard Ricky Clemons talking to the wives of the university president and an associate athletic director.

Missouri hasn't found much relief on the court, losing five of its last seven before Saturday's game, including a 71-67 loss to Belmont that had the Tigers' home fans booing them off the court.

With their first win in Norman since 1994, the Tigers avoided falling below .500 for the first time since the end of the 1996-97 season.

Oklahoma (10-3, 0-2 Big 12) dropped its third straight game for the first time since 1999. The Sooners, picked to finish fourth in the Big 12 in preseason polls, dropped their second straight conference game.

"This may be the thing they need to get them going," Oklahoma coach Kelvin Sampson said. "We both needed to win this game for different reasons."

Missouri recovered from a 40-28 deficit early in the second half and Linas Kleiza sank two of three free throws with 31.3 seconds left to send it to overtime tied at 58. Drew Lavender's jumper at the end of regulation glanced off both sides of the rim and out.

The Tigers scored the first seven points of overtime, capped by a 3-pointer by Rickey Paulding, and spent the rest of the game at the free-throw line.

Oklahoma pulled within 72-69 on Lavender's 3-pointer with 41.2 seconds left, but the Tigers made 7 of 8 free throws down the stretch to ice the game.

Paulding scored nine of his game-high 23 points in overtime and made all four 3-pointers he attempted, including one from the right wing that capped the Tigers' 7-0 run to start overtime.

Arthur Johnson added 16 points and 11 rebounds and Kleiza scored 13 and pulled down nine rebounds. Travon Bryant scored 12 and Jimmy McKinney added 11 points.

"I thought we did a better job of sharing the ball," Snyder said. "We had a stretch where they got us going back and we didn't score for a while. In the past, that's bothered us. It's been hard for us to overcome that. Guys have wanted to do it, but (Saturday) I thought we really did it together."

Snyder said he didn't change any of the team's fundamentals, but had been trying to "find ways to give the team new life."

"We've got a lot of moving parts on this team and sometimes when you have that many moving parts, they can misfire occasionally," Snyder said. "It's not for lack of trying, but for familiarity's sake. We've got some guys on our team that are trying to find their way.

"We found our way tonight."