Xzayvier Brown scored 16 of his 21 points in the first half to show the way for Oklahoma in a 82-69 victory over Baylor in the College Basketball Crown semifinals Saturday in Las Vegas.

Tae Davis scored 11 of his 18 points in the final 12 minutes for the Sooners (21-15), who recovered after surrendering a 10-point lead early in the second half.

Oklahoma wrapped it up with a late nine-point run capped by a 3-pointer from Brown with 4:37 left which gave the Sooners a 72-61 lead. Brown added six rebounds and six assists.

Derrion Reid contributed 17 points and Nijel Pack added 15 points as Oklahoma advanced to Sunday’s title game. The Sooners will play the winner of Saturday’s other semifinal between Creighton and West Virginia.

The champion of the second annual event will win $300,000 of the tournament’s $500,000 NIL prize pool.

Tounde Yessoufou and Isaac Williams scored 15 points apiece as Baylor (17-17) fell to its former Big 12 rival. The teams were in the league together for 28 years before Oklahoma bolted for the Southeastern Conference in 2024.

Cameron Carr put up 14 points and 12 rebounds and Dan Skillings Jr. added 12 points for the Bears.

Baylor committed 12 turnovers to eight for opportunistic Oklahoma, which outscored the Bears 21-2 off those mistakes.

Oklahoma used an early 11-2 run to take a lead that it held the rest of the first half. Reid made three baskets in the run and Kuol Atak added a 3-pointer as the Sooners surged to a 16-8 lead.

Baylor answered with the next seven points and kept it close, pulling to within one point on six occasions, before Oklahoma closed the period with a 14-5 spree.

Pack triggered the run with a jumper and a 3-pointer. Brown finished it off with the Sooners’ final nine points to stake Oklahoma to its largest lead to that point at 45-35.

At the start of the second half, Williams scored seven quick points and Carr added two 3-pointers as the Bears forged a 48-all tie 4 1/2 minutes into the half.

Yessoufou gave Baylor its first lead since the opening minutes when he went end to end for a fastbreak layup that made it 52-51 with 13:16 left.

–Field Level Media

When the Orlando Magic put it altogether at the offensive end, they are one of the most dangerous teams in the NBA.

That’s the view of center Wendell Carter Jr. ahead of the Magic’s road clash with the New Orleans Pelicans on Sunday.

Carter scored a season-best 28 points and Desmond Bane had 27 as Orlando (41-36) absorbed a 51-point haul from Cooper Flagg to defeat the host Dallas Mavericks 138-127 on Friday.

The Magic shot 56% from the field and 53.8% from 3-point range — both just off the team’s season highs — while dishing out 35 assists in a clinical master class in offense.

“That’s the beauty of this team,” Carter said. “I think from top to bottom, we’ve got guys who can go get it any night. When we play free, we play open, we play as one unit, I think we’re one of the most dangerous teams in the league. If we can continue to do that for these last couple of games, being in a good spot going into the playoffs, it will give us a really good chance.”

Orlando coach Jamahl Mosley was similarly impressed with the spark and selflessness he saw when his team had the ball in its hand.

“They did a great job of communicating with each other,” he said. “Their talk, their ability to share the basketball — you talk about 35 assists — moving it, sharing it, trusting the pass, playing with the right style of pace of basketball and really just trusting each other. That was great to see.”

Mosley also singled Carter out for special praise after the big man produced his best performance of the season.

“It’s big time,” Mosley said. “His presence at the rim is great for us. … He’s one of the most selfless guys we have, because he’s trying to do the right thing by this team. When he does that, the guys celebrate him to make sure he’s getting touches on the back end as well.”

The Magic, who entered Saturday a half-game behind the eighth-place Charlotte Hornets, are safely in the play-in tournament and still with a slim shot at a top-six berth and automatic entry into the Eastern Conference playoffs.

The Pelicans (25-53), long out of postseason contention, have a more immediate, short-term goal — win their next two at home, starting with Orlando.

New Orleans crashed to its seventh straight defeat when it frittered away a 55-38 second-quarter lead to succumb 117-113 to the lowly Sacramento Kings. Jeremiah Fears poured in 28 points off the bench and Saddiq Bey added 20 for Sacramento.

Pelicans interim coach James Borrego was critical of his side’s defense, which deteriorated after a promising start.

“Bottom line, we gave up three 30-point quarters defensively,” he said. “I thought that was the game. … Bottom line, we just didn’t guard. Second quarter, third quarter, fourth quarter, 34, 30, 32, that’s just not going to be good enough.”

Borrego wants to see more urgency as his team embarks on its last two home games of the season.

“Just keep competing,” he said. “That’s the bottom line — just compete, sprint through the finish line, don’t give in. We’ll go home in front of our crowd for two games and compete. The goal at home is to win two games right now.”

Orlando has won the past eight meetings, including five by double figures. The Pelicans’ last victory over the Magic was on Dec. 23, 2021.

–Field Level Media

Kerry Carpenter, Zach McKinstry and Matt Vierling hit two-run homers and the host Detroit Tigers slugged their way to an 11-6 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Saturday.

The game was called after 8 1/3 innings due to inclement weather and poor field conditions.

Carpenter, McKinstry and Vierling drove in three runs apiece. Gleyber Torres had two hits, including a homer, and scored twice.

Detroit starter Jack Flaherty was charged with five runs in four-plus innings. He allowed three hits and four walks and hit three batters. He also struck out six.

Brant Hunter (1-0) picked up the win, tossing one inning of scoreless relief.

Jordan Walker hit a grand slam and drove in five for the Cardinals. Starter Dustin May (0-2) gave up seven runs and seven hits in 3 1/3 innings. May walked two and whiffed four.

Detroit took a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first. Colt Keith led off with a single that deflected off May. After a strikeout, Torres singled to center. When Victor Scott II mishandled the ball, Keith scored and Torres moved to second. Carpenter then hit his opposite-field shot.

St. Louis pushed across a run in the third. Ivan Herrera led off with a double and scored on Walker’s two-out single to left.

Detroit got that run back in the bottom of the frame. Kevin McGonigle singled, advanced on a wild pitch and groundout and scored on Carpenter’s sacrifice fly.

McKinstry’s homer, preceded by Dillon Dingler getting hit by a pitch, made it 6-1 in the fourth. The Tigers added another run in the inning when Parker Meadows’ fly ball fell in for a triple. He scored on Vierling’s sacrifice fly.

Flaherty hit JJ Wetherholt with a pitch and walked Herrera, leading to St. Louis’ five-run fifth. Alec Burleson doubled to drive in Wetherholt. After Nolan Gorman walked, Flaherty was removed in favor of Drew Anderson. Walker crushed Anderson’s second offering an estimated 459 feet over the left-center field wall to cut Detroit’s lead to 7-6.

After two-out walks to Riley Greene and Dingler in the bottom of the fifth, McKinstry followed with a run-scoring single.

Torres homered off Matt Svanson leading off the seventh. Vierling homered in the eighth off Chris Roycroft.

–Field Level Media