By Jeff Latzke

AP Sports Writer

OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma lost its lead, but didn’t lose its cool.

Nate Carter scored 22 points and got Oklahoma back on track after it had squandered a 14-point lead as the Sooners beat Iowa State 68-63 in the opening round of the Big 12 tournament on Thursday.

“We don’t want to go home right now,” Carter said. “We just want to keep playing, keep playing hard. We beliewe that if we play together, we can beat anybody.”

The win sewed up a meeting with No. 2 Kansas, the tournament’s top seed, in the quarterfinals on Friday. But it didn’t come easy.

After the Cyclones (15-16) had rallied back to take the lead, Carter scored off an offensive rebound to get put ninth-seeded Oklahoma (16-14) back on top 56-55.

David Godbold’s 3-pointer pushed Oklahoma’s lead to four, and Iowa State went 4 minutes without scoring after its big comeback.

Godbold dove for a steal after Iowa State’s Mike Taylor had lost control of the ball on the right wing and — after a timeout — he was fouled on the other end and hit 1-of-2 free throws with 54.2 seconds left. On his miss, he tracked down the rebound to set up Tony Crocker’s two foul shots that made it 63-56.

Godbold said first-year coach Jeff Capel had been stressing that players needed to make the hustle plays and “get the 50/50 balls” to have a chance to win. The Sooners had lost their previous six games and were in jeopardy of their longest losing streak since they dropped eight games in a row in February 1969.

“We knew if they beat us to the ball, they would get the win,” Godbold said.

Iowa State got within 66-63 on Dodie Dunson’s 3-pointer with 6.2 seconds left, but Carter hit two foul shots to seal the victory.

Crocker, making his first start since Oklahoma’s 58-51 loss at Iowa State on Feb. 13, ended up with 15 points for his back-to-back double-figure scoring games since Jan. 1. Goebold and Taylor Griffin each added 11.

Taylor scored 18 points, Wesley Johnson got all 11 of his points in the second half, and Dunson had 10 points for eighth-seeded Iowa State.

Without an unprecedented four wins in four days at the Big 12 tournament, both teams were likely playing for a chance at an NIT bid.