RALEIGH, N.C. What could be entitled "The Half" was quickly followed by "The Fade" Saturday afternoon.
Oklahoma's basketball team boldly mounted a 47-27 lead in the first half against North Carolina State and hushed the usually loud crowd of 12,400 gathered inside Reynolds Coliseum.
But in the initial 8 1/2 minutes of the second half, the maniacs in Reynolds were back on their feet once again as the Wolfpack had narrowed the Sooners' lead to 60-55.
Obviously OU coach Billy Tubbs was happy to have 20 points to spare at intermission, but said afterward, "I'd rather have 30.
"That's the nice thing about having a 20-point lead. You get to screw around with it . . . at least I think you do."
The 10th-ranked Sooners held on for an 86-82 victory and unquestionably will move up in rank when the next college poll is released Monday afternoon.
The difference for N.C. State in the second half was the ability to get the ball inside to 6-10 sophomore center Charles Shackleford, who scored 17 of his game-high 24 points in the final 20 minutes. He also finished with a game-high 14 rebounds.
"We probably got a little passive," Tubbs said.
OU's commander, again, was senior Tim McCalister, who drilled two free throws at :05 to clinch the Sooners' eighth straight victory.
"I think I'm batting over .500 in the hero-goat situation," said McCalister, who also has had late heroics against Kansas and K-State this season.
"They came out a little bit hungrier than we did in the second half. Once the crowd got into it, it was tough to take them out." BIOG: NAME: