Houston shot its way out of a big hole to claim a 100-93 victory over No. 25 Oklahoma in its first game of the Great Alaska Shootout at Sullivan Arena Thursday night.

The Cougars got 27 points and 12 rebounds from Aubrey Coleman and 28 points from Kelvin Lewis to turn a 17-point first-half deficit into a runaway win.

Oklahoma opened the game on fire from outside, getting a pair of three-pointers from Steven Pledger and another from Tony Crocker to take a 9-4 lead and forcing Penders to call an early timeout to settle his troops.

The stoppage did little to slow the Sooners, who pushed their first-half lead to 16 after a huge block by Tony Crocker. Crocker used his 43-inch vertical leap to stuff Houston's Adam Brown on the break, which started a fast-break for the Sooners, who finished with a nifty driving lay-up by Warren to make it 36-23 with seven minutes left in the half.

Oklahoma led by as many as 17 in the first half before the Cougars finally showed some life against the Sooners' 2-3 zone defense, getting back-to-back jumpers from Kelvin Lewis and a breakout dunk by Coleman to help cut the lead to single digits.

With Warren on the bench with three fouls, Houston managed to whittle the lead to five points at the half after a three from Kirk Van Slyke that made it 52-47 heading into the break. Van Slyke was one of three Houston players to hit double figures in the first with 10 points. Lewis had 16 in the first for the Cougars while Coleman added 11 points and six boards - four of them on the offensive end, where Houston used a 14-5 advantage in the half to keep the Sooners from pulling away.

Pledger was a monster for the Sooners early and often, knocking down four threes and finishing with 20 points while playing all 20 minutes of the half. But he was ice cold in the second, finishing the game with just three more points than he took to the first-half locker room.

Willie Warren led Oklahoma with 25 points.

Houston cut the deficit to just three points with a jumper by Lewis on the Cougars' first possession of second half, but followed Lewis' score with an 11-4 run to push the lead back to double digits.

Houston then countered with an 11-0 run of their own, taking their first lead since the opening minutes at 64-63 after Lewis got a steal and nailed a three-pointer with 13 minutes to go in the game.

Houston's surge continued late in the second half thanks to tenacious defense by the Cougars' guards. Houston got steals on three consecutive possessions, taking a 78-71 lead thanks to a steal and pair of free-throws by Coleman, who was intentionally fouled by Oklahoma's Tony Crocker on the break.

That took the wind out of Oklahoma's sails, as Houston pushed its lead to as many as 15 points before cruising to the victory.