Godbold had 18 second-half points and made five of eight 3-pointers. He also defended Calathes, who was held to six points.

“When I’d get by him, they had two guys standing there,” said Calathes, who came in averaging 18 points but made just two of 11 shots in his final college game. “I wasn’t getting any open shots. It was all the guards tonight, it wasn’t just me.”

Longar Longar had 14 points for the Sooners, who shot 57 percent. Griffin finished with 12 on 6-of-7 shooting but grabbed a modest four rebounds, six fewer than his average.

Johnson added 10 points and five assists.

Nivins had 14 points and Darrin Govens 12 for Saint Joseph’s.

Guard Tasheed Carr, the only Saint Joseph’s regular with NCAA tournament experience, fouled out with 5:25 left. He played in the tournament as a freshman at Iowa State.

The Sooners were able to brush off a 28-point humbling by Texas in the Big 12 tournament along with every Hawks comeback attempt. And Saint Joseph’s couldn’t stop Godbold.

“The beauty of this tournament is a guy getting 25 points who comes in averaging (seven),” Hawks coach Phil Martelli said. “Those things happen.”

Oklahoma has shown up well in tourney time, making the Final Four in 2002 and falling one game short the following season. No other Division I team has advanced to the postseason in 26 of the past 27 years.

Second-year coach Jeff Capel asked his veterans to share their NCAA experiences “good and bad” with younger players like Griffin.

But, he added, “I don’t really think we had to tell our guys a lot. They understand the magnitude of this tournament.”

Saint Joseph’s had polished its NCAA resume with two wins over Xavier, a No. 3 West seed, in a nine-day span at season’s end to earn an at-large bid.