STILLWATER —
Oklahoma State’s run of powderpuff opponents continued Wednesday night.
Unlike Sunday’s slow start against Central Arkansas, the Cowboys jumped on University of Texas-Arlington early and never backed down en route to a 69-44 blowout.
“Nothing like a good slice of humble pie for your Christmas present,” UTA coach Scott Cross said. “Oklahoma State played a great game. They’re a very good team, and they showed how good they were tonight.”
With the Cowboys having an up-and-down shooting night, they relied heavily on their defense — which UTA found out to be quite good. OSU forced the Mavericks to turn the ball over 31 times, finishing with more turnovers than field goals made.
“I loved our defensive effort. It was consistent, other than a few minutes in the second half,” OSU coach Travis Ford said. “That was obviously the difference in the game. Whenever you turn somebody over 31 times at home, you’re probably going to win.”
The Mavs were averaging a turnover a minute in the first half with 20 — the last coming in the final five seconds of the period that led to an easy layup for Markel Brown to make it 36-17. It wasn’t until just under 10 minutes left in the game that UTA finally held more points than turnovers.
“That was a big part of the scouting report. They had trouble handling pressure and didn’t do too well with double teams, so we embraced that and did it,” OSU senior forward Philip Jurick said.
While UTA came in with a 5-2 mark — with the losses being to Oklahoma and Texas — Ford admitted that he was worried about how his team would handle the aggressive veteran Mavericks squad.
“I can’t tell you how concerned I was about this game. From what I saw on tape, I was very concerned,” Ford said. “I thought they matched up with us very well — and in fact, thought they had a better matchup than we did. They look so physical and so senior-laden.”
OSU’s big man, 6-foot-11, 260-pound Jurick, had no problems with the physicality, however. Going up against Jordan Reves, listed at 6-10, 240 pounds, Jurick won the battle of the big man, handily. Reves finished with 8 points, though most of them came when 6-8, 220-pound Michael Cobbins was guarding him.
“I like playing against bigger players. It’s harder for me to play against an undersized post with moving my feet and stuff, but I like the challenges,” Jurick said.
Most of the turnover trouble for the Mavericks came from UTA’s guards. Cameron Catlett turned the ball over 8 times, while Karol Gruszecki made 6 mistakes. Brown had the duties of slowing down Gruszecki, who came in leading the team with 10.7 points per game, and held the Mavs guard scoreless — not even attempting a shot.
“He pretty much had the job on Gruszecki most of the night and for (Brown) to get 17 points, but still stop a guy from scoring — who leads his team — is huge,” Ford said of Brown, who finished with a game-high 5 steals. “I thought he was extremely active. I think this may have been his best game, overall, for him.”
Brown, who was averaging 14 points per game coming in, also led all scorers with 17 points on 7 of 17 shooting for his 10th double-digit scoring performance of the season.
Oklahoma State’s offense had problems controlling the ball at times, finished with 15 total turnovers. The culprit for much of the night, however, was sophomore Le’Bryan Nash, who had 7 turnovers and scored 10 points on a 3-for-11 performance from the field.
The Cowboys will return to action against another soft team in Tennessee Tech (6-5), which has lost two of its last three games.
Sports
Pokes blow out UT-Arlington
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‘All-State Brace’
All the hours and hard work of keeping the Claremore Zebra athletes injury-free in order to reach their dreams at the highest level helped graduate Averey Brace fulfill a huge accomplishment in her athletic training career.
Brace, a recent 2013 graduate of Claremore High School, received All-State honors from the Oklahoma Coaches Association earlier this month for her three-year commitment to the Claremore High School athletic training program. -
Sign up now for OSU Baseball Camp
Oklahoma State Baseball will be holding a pair of camps in June for players in grades 1-8, and registration is now open.
Session I of the camp is June 17-19, with Session II set for June 24-26, and cost for each camp is $200. Camp runs from 9 a.m.-noon each day. -
Lady Zebra volleyball camp set for May 20
The Claremore Lady Zebra volleyball camp will take place on May 20-23 at the Claremore High School gymnasium.
Under the direction of Lady Zebra head coach Lindsey Renfroe, campers will receive instruction in fundamentals — passing, setting, hitting and serving. -
Green Country All-Star Games start May 23 in Catoosa
Area senior all-star athletes from 21 schools in northeastern Oklahoma will lace up their high tops, hoist their bats and dust off their pom-poms in preparation for the 2013 Green Country All-Star Games held May 23-24 in Catoosa.
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SEC BASEBALL: Auburn blanks No. 13 Arkansas, 3-0
Conner Kendrick and Terrance Dedrick combined on a five-hit shutout as Auburn defeated No. 13 Arkansas, 3-0, in the series opener on Thursday night at Plainsman Park.
Arkansas drops to 34-18 overall and 17-10 in Southeastern Conference play, while Auburn is now 32-21 and 12-16 in league play. -
GOLF: Bradley gets course-record 60 at Byron Nelson
Keegan Bradley had no thoughts of a course record, or the possibility of a 59, after consecutive bogeys in the middle of his opening round at the Byron Nelson Championship.
Until his 136-yard wedge shot on his final hole Thursday.
“It was going right at it. (A 59) crossed my mind for a second, and it would be unbelievable if I buried this,” Bradley said. “But I had 3 feet to shoot 60. I was actually very nervous, uncomfortable over it and thank God I made it.” -
Cowboys rock Mountaineers, 7-4
Oklahoma State showcased its offensive ability in its series opener against West Virginia on Thursday at Allie P. Reynolds Stadium.
Whether it’s small ball or the long ball — both of which came into effect — the 16th-ranked Cowboys are proving they can find a way to win here late in the season with a 7-4 mauling of the Mountaineers. -
OU baseball closes out regular season play at K-State
Moods were light as Oklahoma boarded a bus for Manhattan, Kan., Thursday afternoon. What they’ll be like by Sunday depends on what transpires over the next three games.
The Sooners’ season hinges on the outcome. -
Westbrook's injury hinders Thunder's playoff run
The way Kevin Martin describes it, the Oklahoma City Thunder lost the “vision” of a potential championship run the morning they learned All-Star point guard Russell Westbrook would be out for the rest of the postseason.
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NSU women's golf in 8th place at NCAA Division II Championship
The Northeastern State women’s golf team sits in eighth place after Thursday’s second round of the 2013 NCAA Division II Championships on the par-72, 6,228-yard Legends Course at LPGA International.
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