Longhorns win home finale

AUSTIN (KXAN) - The struggling Longhorns managed to shake off a 13 point first half deficit and an 11 point second half deficit to beat Oklahoma 87-76 in their final home game of the season.

It looked like the Sooners would spoil senior night for Damion James, Justin Mason, and Dexter Pittman when they came out on fire from three point land.  OU hit their first five 3's to take a 23-10 lead, but lead by just two at the half.  In the 2nd half the Sooners started on a 9-0 run to build a 49-38.  But from then on it was all Texas.  UT outscored Oklahoma 49-27 over the final 16 minutes to improve to 23-7 and 9-6 in the Big XII.

"When we were winning, I said I would give it all up to be playing our best basketball at this time of year and this last 15 minutes we played tonight were pretty good, pretty good," said head coach Rick Barnes.

James led the way with 24 points and 8 rebounds to close out his Erwin Center career.

"It always feels good to win on senior night or any other night because at the end of the day thats all that matters. It feels good for my last game at the Frank Erwin (Center) to be a victory and my team played great and that all that matters to me," said James.

Freshman J'Covan Brown bounced back from that neck injury on Saturday with 15 points off the bench including the go ahead basket with 9:12 to go in the game which was UT's first lead.  Jordan Hamilton added 12 points on 5-7 shooting from the field to go with a game high 11 rebounds.

Texas closes the regular season at Baylor on Saturday before heading to Kansas City for the Big 12 Tournament where they could be seeded any where from 3rd to 6th.