Romero Osby ripped the rock from the hands of a Baylor defender and then rose toward the ceiling in Lloyd Noble Center.

He threw down a two-handed jam that pulled the Sooners to within one point of the sixth-ranked Baylor Bears with 17:19 left to play in the game.

Junior forward Andrew Fitzgerald scored 10 crucial first half points to leave Oklahoma (12-7, 2-5) trailing Baylor, 35-30, when each team entered its locker room, and Osby had taken only three shots and scored four points.

The second half was the time for the junior from Meridian, Miss., to assert himself.

But Osby’s slam would bring the Sooners as close to Baylor (18-2, 5-2) on the scoreboard as they would be all night.

His 16 points, 11 rebounds and two blocks were not enough to overcome Baylor forward Perry Jones III and the Bears.

Baylor beat the Sooners, 77-65, on Tuesday night.

Oklahoma’s hope of winning its first contest versus a top-10 opponent was thwarted.

Jones III scored a game-high 21 points and pulled down 12 boards on an efficient 9-of-15 night of shooting. But if that wasn’t enough, Baylor’s shooting was.

The Bears were pyrotechnic from 3-point range, knocking down 9-of-18 3-pointers and shooting 54 percent from the hardwood for the game.

“With our inside getting a lot of recognition and notoriety, a lot of people choose to kind of focus on that and that gives us some pretty good looks from the outside, and we have some players that are capable of making open shots from the outside and they did that tonight,” Baylor coach Scott Drew said.

Five different Bears made at least one 3-pointer, while junior guard Steven Pledger sunk Oklahoma’s only three 3-pointers. Pledger ended the game with 17 points and made 7-of-15 shots from the floor.

He thought just one more opportunity to make a play might have given the Sooners the victory.

“We’re a step away,” Pledger said. “I feel like we’re just one more. We’ve just got to make that one more extra step, get that one more extra rebound, box out one more time. We’re just one more step away from everything.”

He might be right.

Nearly 12 minutes after Osby’s energizing dunk, Oklahoma had counter-punched its way to a two-point deficit with 4:42 left to play on a jumper from sophomore guard Cameron Clark.

Drew attributed Oklahoma’s fight to coach Lon Kruger and his ability to instill a competitiveness in the Sooners that has become a trademark of his coaching style.

“Coach Kruger is starting to put his stamp on the team,” he said. “They really get after you defensively. I think this is a team that competes every play.”

Baylor answered with a 9-2 run that would put the game out of reach for the Sooners.

It’s a moral victory, but Osby made it clear in the post game press conference Oklahoma isn’t a place where a moral victory is seen as anything other than what it is on the stat sheet — a loss.

“I feel like we’re making progress but moral victories are something we really just don’t want to accept,” Osby said.

He’s not thinking about next season or the increasing possibility of a career in the NBA. He’s thinking about winning — right now.

“We want to try and start making this progress now, go out and get some wins under our belts and get some confidence," Osby said. "See where we can go from here the rest of this year.”