TUCSON, ARIZ. ? Big and brawny Oklahoma muscled its way past Niagara and all the good karma the Purple Eagles had going for them in the NCAA Tournament.

Drew Lavender led six Sooners in double figures with 17 points in third-seeded Oklahoma’s 84-67 victory Thursday in an Austin Regional game at Arizona’s McKale Center.

The Sooners (25-7), who didn’t make the tourney last year, struggled with 46 percent field-goal shooting but were helped out by solid defense that harassed the Eagles into 16 turnovers. They next play Utah in the second round Saturday.

“We had to dig in and hang in with our defense,” Oklahoma coach Kelvin Sampson said. “Our offense kind of came and went, but we scored when we needed to.”

Juan Mendez led the 14th-seeded Eagles (20-10) with 22 points and 15 rebounds. But he missed his first 11 shots in the second half and finally made a basket with just more than a minute left in his final game. Fellow senior David Brooks added 16 points before fouling out.

After trailing by three at halftime, the Eagles got within one on a basket by Alvin Cruz. But then they went cold, going nearly 12 minutes without a field goal as Oklahoma built a 19-point lead.

“We went out there and played hard, with a chip on our shoulder,” Oklahoma’s Taj Gray said. “That’s what increased our level of intensity on defense. We feel like we have a lot of things to prove, like an underdog.”