Oklahoma senior Marvin Johnson grew up watching Bedlam just like many other kids growing up in the Sooner State.

He took a long, incredibly long road to Oklahoma, but he was only going to get one opportunity against Oklahoma State.

He made the most of it, earning a steal and the game-clinching basket in a 66-62 overtime victory against the Cowboys on Saturday afternoon at Lloyd Noble Center.

“It actually means everything to me,” Johnson said. “Growing up in Oklahoma, always grew up watching the Bedlam game. And being an Oklahoma kid, you either wanted to go to OU or OSU. Playing in that game and being able to help my team out is big. I’m gonna be able to talk about that forever.”

Johnson hadn’t had much to talk about here lately. After suffering a high ankle sprain at Auburn last month, all he could was sit and watch as the Sooners struggled. Included in that was the first Bedlam, a loss at OSU where Johnson was sporting a boot. He made his return in Lubbock in Tuesday’s loss at Texas Tech, but Bedlam was going to be his shot.

An Oklahoma native, originally from Ardmore and winning a state title at Edmond North in 2017, Johnson was among the bevy of transfers who headed to OU for this season. His final season, a super senior, his final games here coming up.

He was the first person off the bench and came alive in the second half and overtime, scoring all 10 of his points to go with six rebounds and two steals in a season-high 30 minutes.

“I've seen a lot of guys battle back from injuries, but Marvin was dedicated,” center Tanner Groves said. “He was in the training room every single day getting his treatment. He was running on the sidelines, making sure his ankle was good and checking with the trainer at all times. He just wanted to play that bad. It was just a huge testament to his hard work, how much he cares about this team and how much he wants to do great for us.”

With OU up 64-62 with 17.7 seconds left in overtime, it was Johnson who stole the ball and drove the length of the floor, finishing with a lay-up to give OU its first two-possession lead of overtime.

Johnson’s bucket saves what was close to being an all-time collapse for the Sooners. OU led 48-35 and 52-43 before OSU came back to tie it at 54 and force overtime.

“We needed this. We needed this,” head coach Porter Moser said. “Obviously the last three minutes, a lot of things happened. We took an ill-advised shot in transition. We missed two front ends of one-and-one. We had a really bad turnover dropping the ball on an out of bounds play. We came off a corner shooter on Rondell Walker's 3. We just had a series of things and we weren't great offensively. I thought we regrouped to start overtime.”

Regrouping is the name of the game in the Big 12 as the win snapped OU’s four-game losing streak and puts the Sooners at 15-14 overall and 5-11 in the Big 12. Up next is senior night vs. West Virginia on Tuesday night.

Notes and observations

*Johnson had to play 30 minutes because OU was short-handed even more than it already was. Elijah Harkless is, of course, now out for the season after knee surgery. But freshman C.J. Noland did not play Saturday because of a knee injury, Moser said.

“C.J. Noland tweaked his knee and he was out of practice the last couple of days,” Moser said. “So he hadn't practiced and Marvin was practicing and we were like 'he's an Oklahoma young man. He's fought through a lot. He's older. We need him.' We keep talking about older guys. He's older and he made some big plays. No bigger than the one on the steal on the out of bounds play and then bringing it up full court.”

It is unclear the extent of Noland’s injury, although he was in uniform and on the bench for OU vs. OSU.

*OU’s starters have been through a lot, and Bedlam was no exception. They logged some monster minutes, highlighted by Mo Gibson going 43 of the 45 possible.

“Mo was another guy who didn't get a lot of reps this week. With his different little aches and pains, we're trying to get his body a little rest. For him to throw 43 minutes up there? And Jordan Goldwire? Jordan was dying. I thought we guarded really well. They did a nice job with Avery Anderson on that two-man game and the ball screen.

“I thought Mo and Jordan and Jalen Hill were just exhausted, absolutely exhausted. For them to give us that kind of defensive effort for so long.”

Gibson had 13 points and three rebounds. Goldwire had 13 points, seven rebounds and two steals. Hill finished with nine rebounds, six points and three steals.