Sweet relief at OU

NORMAN, Okla. -- Even with Missouri trailing by 12 points and Oklahoma's fans in a frenzy, Rickey Paulding's confidence never wavered.

"I think we just had to take the first blow," Missouri's star guard said. "We took their best shots throughout the game. Then, we had them on their heels and started to get aggressive."

A scuffle late in the second half sparked the Tigers' rally and Paulding took over, scoring nine of his 23 points in overtime to lead Missouri to a 79-75 win over No. 11 Oklahoma and extend the Sooners' losing streak to three games.

The Tigers (7-6, 2-1 Big 12) scored seven straight points to open overtime, punctuated by a 3-pointer by Paulding to take a 65-58 lead.

Oklahoma made a frenzied rally over the final two minutes and pulled within 72-69 on a 3 by freshman guard Drew Lavender with 41.2 seconds left.

But Missouri shot 7-for-8 from the free-throw line down the stretch to clinch perhaps its most important victory of a tremendously disappointing season.

Missouri, which had lost five its last seven entering the game, avoided slipping under .500 for the first time since finishing 16-17 in the 1996-97 season. It was the Tigers' first win in Norman since 1994, and just the second loss in 47 home games for Oklahoma.

"If we play that way and we don't win, you might cry," Missouri coach Quin Snyder said. "This would have been a devastating game for us to lose."

Who knows what this loss could mean for Oklahoma?

The Sooners' once promising season is now in a dangerous tailspin with its longest skid in five years.

Oklahoma (10-3, 0-2) had been ranked No. 6 before back-to-back 20-point losses -- the first time that's happened in 35 years -- to No. 1 Connecticut and Oklahoma State.

Now the Sooners' youngest team in a decade must try to figure out a way to bounce back after the school's first 0-2 start in conference play since 1980-81. Oklahoma next faces No. 22 Texas Tech on Monday.

Freshman Lawrence McKenzie led Oklahoma with 16 points, and Jabahri Brown had 15. Lavender, the team's leading scorer, finished with 12 points.

"This is a tough league to win in with a lot of young guys," Oklahoma coach Kelvin Sampson said. "We don't have a Final Four team, so we're not going to get ourselves too disappointed. We knew that this team would go through some growing pains. "

Emotions between these desperate teams bubbled over late in the second half when Brown and Missouri forward Arthur Johnson got tangled up while going after a tipped ball. Brown threw a punch at Johnson that missed and had to be restrained by a teammate.

A technical foul was called on Brown, and Paulding made one of two free throws as Missouri closed within 47-45 with 7:49 left in the game.

Two minutes later, the Tigers took their first lead since the first half on a 3-pointer by Travon Bryant.

The game was tied four times, at 52, 54, 56 and 58, as both teams traded shots inside the paint in the final five minutes.

Oklahoma had a chance to win the game in regulation, but Lavender missed a jumper from just inside the 3-point arc as time expired.

The teams had more turnovers (21) than field goals (19) in the sloppy first half, and Missouri didn't score another basket after Johnson's layup with 6:54 left in the half.

Oklahoma surged ahead during that Tigers' drought and led 26-24 at halftime.

The Sooners looked as if they might finally pull away after opening the second half with a 14-4 run, keyed by a couple of 3s from McKenzie.

But Linas Kleiza scored six straight points to get the Tigers' rally started, and after the tussle between Johnson and Brown, Missouri never trailed by fewer than two points.

Missouri got clutch contributions from all of its senior stars: Paulding made all four of his 3-point attempts, Johnson had 16 points and 11 rebounds and Bryant added 12 points.

Afterward, the Tigers sounded more relieved than happy about the win.

"They know the things that are being said and written about them," said Snyder, whose team had been ranked as high as No. 3 last month. "We haven't played the way that we want to play. No one's wanted to win more than those guys. I think it's a lift, but I also think it's more how we did it."

Missouri will close out a grueling three-game stretch on Tuesday against No. 18 Texas that started with a 82-68 loss to defending national champion Syracuse on Monday.