Oklahoma State basketball: Cowboys earn third place in Maui Invitational with dominating 97-70 win over Georgetown
@mark_cooperjr/markcoopertw
Posted: Wednesday November 23, 2016 8:21 pm
LAHAINA, Hawaii -- Georgetown made more than half its shots against Oklahoma State. The Hoyas grabbed more rebounds than the Cowboys, too.
In a typical game, those numbers might indicate some trouble for OSU.
The way the Cowboys played defense Wednesday was anything but typical.
Oklahoma State forced 28 Hoya turnovers, attempted 24 more shots and got a monstrous performance from its bench, dominating Georgetown 97-70 at the Lahaina Civic Center. A night after OSU took a lump against No. 4 North Carolina, the Cowboys bounced back in the third-place game with a convincing performance of their own.
About the only thing that went wrong for OSU (5-1) was the start: Georgetown (2-4) jumped to an 8-0 lead.
But coach Brad Underwood quickly subbed out four starters. The Cowboys' bench began a night that was all about them.
OSU's reserves scored 59 points, with 20 from Jeffrey Carroll, 12 from Brandon Averette and 11 from Cameron McGriff.
McGriff also made the play of the night, throwing down a ferocious dunk that gave OSU some momentum in its comeback from an early deficit. (See it here.)
In OSU's loss on Tuesday, Jawun Evans scored 30 points while the rest of the team struggled to put the ball through the hoop.
Eleven Cowboys scored against the Hoyas. The balance was apparent as OSU took a 50-35 halftime lead without a player scoring more than 10 points.
The Cowboys got 13 points and six assists from Evans. They got a pair of 3-pointers from Phil Forte.
But they also got eight points from Thomas Dziagwa. And eight from Lucas N'Guessan, who made his first career start in place of Mitchell Solomon.
Meanwhile, OSU was tenacious on the defense end.
Georgetown's 28 turnovers led to 41 OSU points. Two nights after Connecticut's Jalen Adams was turned over 10 times by the OSU pressure defense, Hoyas point guard Jagan Mosely had seven turnovers.
When the Hoyas could get a shot off, they were good, making 51.1 percent of their attempted.
But Georgetown finished the game with 47 shot attempts. OSU took 71.
A few months ago, the Maui Invitational looked daunting for an OSU team with a new coach and an unclear lineup.
As the Cowboys fly back to Stillwater, they do it with wins over UConn and Georgetown and a third-place finish in a tournament that also included Oregon and Wisconsin.
And they finished the three-day test looking like a team whose confidence is rising.
Mark Cooper
918-581-8387
mark.cooper@tulsaworld.com
Twitter: @mark_cooperjr
@mark_cooperjr/markcoopertw
Posted: Wednesday November 23, 2016 8:21 pm
LAHAINA, Hawaii -- Georgetown made more than half its shots against Oklahoma State. The Hoyas grabbed more rebounds than the Cowboys, too.
In a typical game, those numbers might indicate some trouble for OSU.
The way the Cowboys played defense Wednesday was anything but typical.
Oklahoma State forced 28 Hoya turnovers, attempted 24 more shots and got a monstrous performance from its bench, dominating Georgetown 97-70 at the Lahaina Civic Center. A night after OSU took a lump against No. 4 North Carolina, the Cowboys bounced back in the third-place game with a convincing performance of their own.
About the only thing that went wrong for OSU (5-1) was the start: Georgetown (2-4) jumped to an 8-0 lead.
But coach Brad Underwood quickly subbed out four starters. The Cowboys' bench began a night that was all about them.
OSU's reserves scored 59 points, with 20 from Jeffrey Carroll, 12 from Brandon Averette and 11 from Cameron McGriff.
McGriff also made the play of the night, throwing down a ferocious dunk that gave OSU some momentum in its comeback from an early deficit. (See it here.)
In OSU's loss on Tuesday, Jawun Evans scored 30 points while the rest of the team struggled to put the ball through the hoop.
Eleven Cowboys scored against the Hoyas. The balance was apparent as OSU took a 50-35 halftime lead without a player scoring more than 10 points.
The Cowboys got 13 points and six assists from Evans. They got a pair of 3-pointers from Phil Forte.
But they also got eight points from Thomas Dziagwa. And eight from Lucas N'Guessan, who made his first career start in place of Mitchell Solomon.
Meanwhile, OSU was tenacious on the defense end.
Georgetown's 28 turnovers led to 41 OSU points. Two nights after Connecticut's Jalen Adams was turned over 10 times by the OSU pressure defense, Hoyas point guard Jagan Mosely had seven turnovers.
When the Hoyas could get a shot off, they were good, making 51.1 percent of their attempted.
But Georgetown finished the game with 47 shot attempts. OSU took 71.
A few months ago, the Maui Invitational looked daunting for an OSU team with a new coach and an unclear lineup.
As the Cowboys fly back to Stillwater, they do it with wins over UConn and Georgetown and a third-place finish in a tournament that also included Oregon and Wisconsin.
And they finished the three-day test looking like a team whose confidence is rising.
Mark Cooper
918-581-8387
mark.cooper@tulsaworld.com
Twitter: @mark_cooperjr
