No. 16 Miss. St. stuns No. 5 Sooners

NEW ORLEANS - Mario Austin scored 18 points as No. 16 Mississippi State upset No. 5 Oklahoma 54-45 Saturday in the Sugar Bowl Classic. <br> <br> Mississippi State (8-1) shot 36 percent from the field (18-of-50) and was just 3-of-13 from 3-point range, but the Bulldogs made 15-of-19 from the free-throw line to stay ahead. <br> <br> Oklahoma (6-2), had won its six games by an average of 23.7 points, but shot a dismal 31 percent (17-of-54) and hit just 7-of-24 from 3-point range. <br> <br> The Sooners were down 48-38 with 3:39 remaining. Kevin Bookout got an offensive rebound and scored to pull Oklahoma to 48-40 with 2:49 left. After Derrick Zimmerman missed the front end of a one-and-one for the Bulldogs, Hollis Price sank a 3-pointer for Oklahoma, then made two free throws to get to 48-45 with 1:23 remaining. <br> <br> Austin was fouled on a layup and converted the free throw to make it 51-45. <br> <br> The Bulldogs scored the final three points of the game on dunk by Zimmerman and a free throw by Austin, sparking a chant of ``SEC, SEC, SEC,&#39;&#39; from the crowd. Oklahoma&#39;s previous loss was to Alabama. <br> <br> Michal Ignerski had 11 points for Mississippi State. The Bulldogs got only 11 points from their guards and none in the first half. Austin, who was averaging 26 points a game, had 8 rebounds. <br> <br> Price led Oklahoma with 17 points. <br> <br> The Sooners had 17 turnovers to Mississippi State&#39;s 13. <br> <br> Mississippi State has not lost since dropping the season opener. <br> <br> Both teams came into the game with long layoffs - seven days for Oklahoma and nine days for Mississippi State - and struggled early. It was over a minute before either team scored, and five minutes into the game Oklahoma led 5-4. The Sooners could not take advantage of a five-minute scoreless period by the Bulldogs and only led 10-4. <br> <br> Both teams were rusty in the first half. The Sooners turned the ball over 10 times before halftime, the Bulldogs 11 times. The score was tied 23-23 at the half. <br> <br> The Sooners pulled ahead 36-30 to open the second half. The 13-7 run was fueled by a trio of 3-pointers, two of them by Price. <br> <br> The lead was short lived as the Bulldogs came back on an 8-0 run to take a 38-36 lead on a basket by Ontario Harper with 9:52 left. <br> <br> Over the next 8:14, Oklahoma scored only once while Mississippi State stretched its lead to 46-38 with 4:43 remaining.

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