Oklahoma State University Athletics
Oklahoma State University
Washington
Cowboys Pull Away From Washington In Second Half
December 21, 1999 | Cowboy Basketball
Dec. 21, 1999
By JIM COUR
AP Sports Writer
SEATTLE (AP) - Eddie Sutton is scratching his head. No. 13 Oklahoma State keeps getting outrebounded and keeps winning.
With Desmond Mason scoring a season-high 31 points, the Cowboys pulled away in the second half to defeat Washington 84-72 on Tuesday night.
Oklahoma State (10-0) was outrebounded for the fourth time this season. The shorter Huskies (4-5) had a 32-28 rebounding advantage. The Cowboys also have been outrebounded by Arkansas-Little Rock, Wichita State and Texas-San Antonio this year.
"Our defensive board play is not where it should be. We need to improve on that," Sutton said. "But we can't improve on our record and that's the bottom line."
Washington, which is supposed to be rebuilding after making two consecutive NCAA tournament appearances, got 13 offensive rebounds, a statistic that disappointed 6-foot-10 Brian Montonati.
"We need to improve dramatically on our defensive rebounding," he said.
Deon Luton, who is from Del City, Okla., had a season-best 26 points for the Huskies and reminded Sutton after the game that he got away from Oklahoma State's recruiting net.
"I went over after the game to congratulate him and said, `I should have recruited you,"' Sutton said. "He said, `Yeah, you should've."'
Luton made 5-of-8 3-point attempts after going 1-for-13 as a sophomore two years ago in a loss in Stillwater, Okla.
Said Luton: "They really weren't interested in me and I really wasn't interested in them."
The Cowboys looked lethargic in the first half, when they were held to a 35-35 tie, but began to take control after Luton's 7-footer gave Washington (4-5) a 45-43 lead with 4:41 gone in the second half.
"We knew they would scrap and in the first half they outhustled us," Mason said.
Luton's basket was the last points by the Huskies until Luton made two free throws with 11:57 left. Oklahoma State had an 11-0 run in that span to take control at 54-45 with 12:12 remaining.
Glendon Alexander had two 3-pointers and a 15-footer during the Cowboys' run.
The Cowboys twice led by 16 points, at 75-59 with 4:38 left after a 3-pointer by Mason and 77-61 after a layup by Montonati with 4:12 to go.
The Huskies cut Oklahoma State's lead to seven points with 1:24 remaining on Senque Carey's layup after Chris Walcott made two 3-pointers and Luton added a 3-pointer.
The Cowboys got a free throw from Mason with 9.8 seconds left in the first half to get a tie at halftime. Luton sank a 3-pointer with 46 seconds left in the opening half.
Mason, a 6-5 senior forward, came within one point of his career high on 11-of-17 shooting. In addition, he had seven rebounds. Montonati had 17 points, Alexander 15 and Joe Adkins 13 for Sutton's team.
Doug Gottlieb, Oklahoma State's senior point guard, had 12 assists, giving him 764 for his career and moving him into the Top 25 in NCAA Division I history. He led the nation in assists at 8.8 per game last season.
Will Perkins and Carey each scored 11 points, and Michael Johnson 10 for the Huskies. Carey also had nine assists.
Washington tried to be patient on offense, trying to run the shot clock down and looking for good shots. They wound up shooting 43 percent.
"Against a team like this, you have to have great discipline," Huskies coach Bob Bender said.
