SAN JOSE, California (Ticker) -- Oklahoma fought its way within one win of reaching the Final Four.

Sparked by its trademark aggressive defense, the second-seeded Sooners took control in the second half en route to an 88-67 victory over No. 3 Arizona in a West Region semifinal game.

Hollis Price provided the outside threat with 26 points and Aaron McGhee was the force on the inside with 21 for Oklahoma (30-4), which will meet Big 12 rival Missouri in Saturday's region final. The Sooners have not been to the Final Four since 1988.

Oklahoma struggled on both ends of the floor in the first half, trailing by as many as seven points while the Wildcats shot nearly 60 percent. But the Sooners put the clamps on over the final 20 minutes, holding Arizona to 29 percent (10-of-34) as they dominated the entire half.

"In the first half, they shot 56 percent, and that's not our style," Price said. "We really don't give up easy shots. I think we had the mindset at halftime that we weren't going to give up easy shots or any second-chance shots. They had to adjust to us and that's what we wanted to do -- make them adjust to us, not us adjusting to them."

The win had to be especially sweet for Sooners coach Kelvin Sampson, who broke into tears during Wednesday's news conference when he talked about his father, John W. "Ned" Sampson. The elder Sampson underwent surgery at San Jose hospital late Tuesday after blood collected on his brain.

Jason Gardner finished with 15 points to lead the Wildcats (24-10), who exceeded expectations this season with a young team after reaching the title game last season.

"From our standpoint, it was great year for this young team," Arizona coach Lute Olson said. "In a lot of games we've battled. In this one, we were outquicked and outfought in the second half."

Sophomore Jabahri Brown, one of the Sooners' aggressive frontcourt players, showed some of his aggression early in the second half when he came face-to-face with Arizona freshman Channing Frye. Both players were whistled for technicals but the play seemed to spark the Sooners, who were trailing, 41-38 at the time.

A jumper by Ebi Ere with 14:44 remaining tied the contest at 44-44 and triggered a 9-0 run that put the Sooners ahead for good. Daryan Selvy followed with a tip-in, Price made a jumper and Ere nailed a 3-pointer on the right side for a 51-44 advantage with 11:41 to play.

Ere, who went scoreless in the opening half, came alive over the final 20 minutes and finished with 14 points. Selvy had 15 for Oklahoma, which shot 51 percent (19-of-37) in the second half.

McGhee, the Sooners' best inside player, also came up big when it counted as he scored 19 points in the final 20 minutes. McGhee finished 6-of-12 from the field, made all eight of his free throws and grabbed eight rebounds.

"In the first half, they were running two or three guys on me as soon as I caught the ball, so I was just trying to keep my teammates involved and trying to find the open guy for the open shot," McGhee said. "At halftime coach really got into me, so I just wanted to stay aggressive and play my game."

The senior scored on a baseline drive with 6:58 left and 26 seconds later he stepped outside for a 3-pointer, pushing the lead to 65-53. The Sooners led by at least nine points the rest of the way.

Ere added eight rebounds as Oklahoma managed a 42-37 edge on the boards. The Sooners grabbed 16 of those rebounds on the offensive glass.

"When we're playing well, we're dominating the boards on both ends," Sampson said. "We're not allowing second shots, and we're getting second and third shots. Our goal in the second half was use the dribble to get to the rim and once we got to the rim, we'll rebound like crazy. We got 16 offensive rebounds and I think most were in the second half."

In the opening half, Price was a one-man show for the Sooners as he made 6-of-10 attempts from 3-point range and scored 22 points. Oklahoma needed virtually all of his offense just to stay in the game.

After Price made his second shot from beyond the arc to give the Sooners an early 8-2 lead, they went scoreless for nearly seven minutes until the junior guard drilled another 3-pointer.

A 16-5 run, capped by 3-pointer from Salim Stoudamire gave the Wildcats a 33-26 lead with 3:15 left before the break.

Stoudamire finished with eight points, making just 2-of-8 shots. It also was a rough night for Gardner, who in what may have been his final collegiate game, went just 4-of-15 from the field.

Luke Walton made a running jumper along the baseline, giving Arizona its biggest lead at 37-28. But the Sooners scored the final five points of the half, seizing some momentum.

Walton had a solid all-around game as he finished with nine points, eight assists and eight rebounds.

Freshman Will Bynum added 10 points for Arizona, which shot 56.5 percent (13-of-23) in the first half before going cold thereafter.