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Griffin, Oklahoma hammer overmatched Maine

Dec 11, 2008 - 6:16 AM NORMAN, Oklahoma (Ticker) -- With the way that Oklahoma came out of the gate, a win over Maine was a slam dunk.

Blake Griffin scored 22 points and grabbed 10 rebounds as fifth-ranked Oklahoma had little trouble with Maine, rolling to a 78-52 victory on Wednesday.

Along with notching his first double-double in three games and seventh on the season, Griffin excited the fans at Lloyd Noble Center with a number of thunderous dunks, mainly in transition.

The 6-10 stellar sophomore got three of his seven slams during an 11-0 run in the opening minutes, giving the Sooners (9-0) an 11-3 lead with 13:38 remaining.

"I felt like we brought it from the very beginning," Griffin said.

Griffin went on to make his first six shots en route to scoring 12 first-half points, leading Oklahoma to a 38-15 advantage at the break.

"In some film we had seen they did a pretty good job when playing zone," Griffin said. "I kind of noticed they helped off a lot. I just stayed aggressive and the guards did a good job of finding me."

One of those baskets in the opening half came on an alley-oop from Austin Johnson, as Griffin hammered home the pass for a 25-9 cushion with 7:18 remaining.

"One of the things coming in, we didn't want Maine to get comfortable," Oklahoma coach Jeff Capel said. "We did a good job of pressuring and not allowing them to get into anything. We were more athletic. Their coach does a good job with their team, but I thought our athleticism overran them a little bit today."

Freshman Willie Warren had 19 points and fellow classmate Ray Willis chipped in 13 for the Sooners, who continued to roll after intermission, going on to lead by as many as 33 points.

Griffin went on to finish 11-of-13 from the field while also handing out three assists and blocking three shots.

"It's a tough matchup for everybody," Maine coach Ted Woodward said of Griffin. "We don't have a ton of size, but we have good size for our league.

"We certainly don't have the size that you would have going against the Big 12 or some Big East teams, and certainly Griffin is a big, physical presence down there and also a very smart basketball player in how he gets into areas to score. We knew that coming into the game and he did a lot inside that was a physical problem for us."

Tony Crocker scored 10 points and Johnson ended up with three and seven assists for Oklahoma, which finished 45 percent (29-of-65) from the field and committed only nine turnovers.

Meanwhile, the Sooners forced the Black Bears into 20 turnovers, converting them into 28 points. Maine did not record any points off giveaways.

Warren missed his first two shots from the field, but recovered to finish 7-of-10 as he had little trouble penetrating into the lane. The freshman credited the presence of Griffin.

"Blake (Griffin) draws a lot of attention down there," Warren said. "That opens it up and we reverse the ball quick because they are so focused on Blake. So it is easy for our guards to penetrate lanes."

Mark Socoby had 10 points for the Black Bears (5-5), who shot 5-of-25 (20 percent) from the field in the first half en route to the season-low 15 points.