Oklahoma downs Syracuse 84-71

By the Associated Press (1373)

Saturday, March 28, 2009
© Copyright 2013 Newton Citizen

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Oklahoma is dangerous enough with Blake Griffin. Give him some help? The Sooners are nearly unstoppable.

Griffin scored 30 points and had 14 rebounds, and Tony Crocker added a career-high 28 points as the second-seeded Sooners beat Syracuse 84-71 Friday night and advanced to their first regional final since 2003.

Oklahoma (30-5) started pulling away midway through the first half and moved on to play either top-seeded North Carolina or Gonzaga in the South Regional final Sunday looking for their first Final Four since 2002. The last time the Sooners made it this far, Syracuse beat them en route to their own national championship.

And all that talk of an All-Big East Final Four?

That's over with now. Syracuse was the league's lone representative left in the South Region. The Orange (28-10) finally ran out of the magic that helped them pull off such wins as their six-overtime marathon over Connecticut in the Big East tournament.

Griffin once again put on a show despite being double-teamed again. He mowed over Syracuse's gutsy guard Jonny Flynn going to the basket and nearly hurt himself by banging his noggin against the bottom of the backboard while driving along the baseline for a rim-rocking dunk.

But it was Crocker, the junior guard who went scoreless in the Sooners' second-round win over Michigan, who helped shred Syracuse's vaunted 2-3 zone. He shot right over the zone, hitting six of his first eight 3s.

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