Oklahoma State routs MVSU
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Stillwater, OK (SportsNetwork.com) - Phil Forte had a game-high 22 points as the 8th-ranked Oklahoma State Cowboys crushed the Mississippi Valley State Delta Devils 117-62 at Gallagher-Iba Arena.
Forte made 4-of-7 from beyond the arc and knocked down 6-of-6 free throws. Le'Bryan Nash contributed 21 points and 10 rebounds, while Markel Brown and Brian Williams both added 14 points in Oklahoma State's (1-0) dominant showing.
"We have so many great players on this team that it makes my job easy, and tonight was one of those nights," said Forte on his team's performance.
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DeAngelo Priar paced Mississippi Valley State (0-1) with 17 points and four rebounds. Anthony McDonald had 16 points in the rout.
Oklahoma State won the only other meeting between these two teams, a 77-74 victory on Dec. 4, 1996.
"Although we won by a huge margin, we got a little bit out of it. We've got to shoot our free throws a little bit better than we did. I loved the passing. I thought we found the open man and made shots, which was nice to see. Overall, I thought it was a pretty good performance," said Oklahoma State head coach Travis Ford.
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Nash started off the game with a dunk for the Cowboys and added two from the free throw line to put the Cowboys up 7-2 at 17:20.
McDonald drained threes on back-to-back possessions before converting a pair at the foul line to cut Oklahoma State's lead down to 32-21 with 8:51 remaining in the first.
Forte capped of a 10-0 run with a 23-foot jumper from beyond the arc at 6:05 to make it 42-21. The Cowboys continued to dominate, taking a 34-point lead into the half with a commanding 63-29 edge.
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The Cowboys jumped out to another 9-1 run early in the second half, highlighted by a dunk from Michael Cobbins at 15:48 to make it 75-36.
Oklahoma State continued its strong play with an 18-4 run that contained 3- pointers from Forte and Brown. Brown added another three at 7:47 to increase the lead to 98-45.
Priar scored eight of his 17 points in the final 11 minutes. James Currington added two free throws after a three from Oklahoma State's Ford Stuen to account for the final score.
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Game Notes
Oklahoma State is 21-0 all-time against current members of the Southwestern Athletic Conference ... Nash made 9-of-10 from the free throw line ... Oklahoma State hosts Utah Valley on Tuesday.