JimBob
01-08-2008, 07:42 AM
Cowboys squeak by RSU
By JIMMIE TRAMEL World Sports Writer
1/8/2008
Rogers State's first-year program gives OSU a battle.
STILLWATER -- Marcus Dove is the only current Oklahoma State basketball player who was on the roster way back when Wren Baker was an administrative assistant for the Cowboys.
Dove and Byron Eaton combined to score 17 of OSU's final 22 points and helped spoil Baker's return.
Baker is head coach at Rogers State University, a first-year NAIA program with six NCAA Division I transfers on the roster. And, for the second time this season, his Hillcats made a Sutton-coached team sweat.
ORU beat RSU by only 12 points back at the start of the season and OSU eked out a 62-53 triumph over the Hillcats Monday night at what once was the rowdiest arena in the country. Paid attendance was 12,963 and actual attendance was 4,592 in OSU's final nonleague game.
James Anderson scored 15 points, Eaton added 14 and Obi Muonelo had 13 as OSU extended its season-best winning streak to four games. The Cowboys, 9-5 overall and 8-0 at home, will play a 12:30 p.m. Saturday Big 12 opener against Texas Tech at Gallagher-Iba Arena.
OSU coach Sean Sutton, in his postgame press conference, said he knew "something like this could happen."
Sutton figured he would get RSU's best shot (he said the game was almost "like their Final Four") and he suspected this could be a trap game for his team, particularly if players were looking ahead to a league opener.
"Mix that combination in and you get a result like this," Sutton said. "I didn't think it would be quite this extreme, but it was."
Rogers State entered with an 8-3 record and left with an 8-3 record. The Hillcats chose to count the contest as an exhibition game.
"We got to play it without pressure," Baker said. "The game counts for them. They certainly needed it. There's a big difference to coming in and playing pressure-free basketball and having fun and their situation where they know they've got to win it."
OSU was behind during the first 5:20, but never trailed afterward. OSU led by only two with 3:50 left in the first half, but the game turned because RSU was held to one field goal in the next 13 -1/2 minutes.
OSU built an 18-point cushion. Then the Cowboys failed to push the margin to 20 and allowed a visiting team to climb back into it. RSU twice got within eight in the final minute.
"It was almost like the Texas-San Antonio game, where we just lost all of our intensity. And offensively, we quit sharing the basketball, and defensively we lost our aggressiveness and started fouling. And as a result, it didn't look very good," Sutton said.
The paper lists the attendance at 12,963; that can't be right?
By JIMMIE TRAMEL World Sports Writer
1/8/2008
Rogers State's first-year program gives OSU a battle.
STILLWATER -- Marcus Dove is the only current Oklahoma State basketball player who was on the roster way back when Wren Baker was an administrative assistant for the Cowboys.
Dove and Byron Eaton combined to score 17 of OSU's final 22 points and helped spoil Baker's return.
Baker is head coach at Rogers State University, a first-year NAIA program with six NCAA Division I transfers on the roster. And, for the second time this season, his Hillcats made a Sutton-coached team sweat.
ORU beat RSU by only 12 points back at the start of the season and OSU eked out a 62-53 triumph over the Hillcats Monday night at what once was the rowdiest arena in the country. Paid attendance was 12,963 and actual attendance was 4,592 in OSU's final nonleague game.
James Anderson scored 15 points, Eaton added 14 and Obi Muonelo had 13 as OSU extended its season-best winning streak to four games. The Cowboys, 9-5 overall and 8-0 at home, will play a 12:30 p.m. Saturday Big 12 opener against Texas Tech at Gallagher-Iba Arena.
OSU coach Sean Sutton, in his postgame press conference, said he knew "something like this could happen."
Sutton figured he would get RSU's best shot (he said the game was almost "like their Final Four") and he suspected this could be a trap game for his team, particularly if players were looking ahead to a league opener.
"Mix that combination in and you get a result like this," Sutton said. "I didn't think it would be quite this extreme, but it was."
Rogers State entered with an 8-3 record and left with an 8-3 record. The Hillcats chose to count the contest as an exhibition game.
"We got to play it without pressure," Baker said. "The game counts for them. They certainly needed it. There's a big difference to coming in and playing pressure-free basketball and having fun and their situation where they know they've got to win it."
OSU was behind during the first 5:20, but never trailed afterward. OSU led by only two with 3:50 left in the first half, but the game turned because RSU was held to one field goal in the next 13 -1/2 minutes.
OSU built an 18-point cushion. Then the Cowboys failed to push the margin to 20 and allowed a visiting team to climb back into it. RSU twice got within eight in the final minute.
"It was almost like the Texas-San Antonio game, where we just lost all of our intensity. And offensively, we quit sharing the basketball, and defensively we lost our aggressiveness and started fouling. And as a result, it didn't look very good," Sutton said.
The paper lists the attendance at 12,963; that can't be right?