Oklahoma State University Athletics
Cowboys Need Overtime to Defeat Kansas State
June 21, 1999 | Cowboy Basketball
January 2, 1999
By OWEN CANFIELD
AP Sports Writer
STILLWATER, Okla. (AP) - Twelve minutes of outstanding defense made up for 28 minutes of bad offense, and helped save Oklahoma State in its Big 12 opener.
The 25th-ranked Cowboys used a 22-2 second-half run to wipe out a 15-point deficit, then went on to beat Kansas State 75-69 in overtime Saturday.
"We had them beat, and they beat us," said coach Tom Asbury, whose Wildcats had won seven straight games. "It was just a matter of who was going to pull the knockout punch, and they did it."
Oklahoma State (9-3) had been outplayed and was out of sync until the comeback. The Wildcats led by as many as 12 points in the first half, when they held Oklahoma State to 40 percent shooting. They twice widened the margin to 15 in the second half, the final time at 48-33 on a shot by Paco May with 13:59 left.
Oklahoma State had just three second-half field goals and trailed 50-36 before finally getting going with about 10:15 remaining. Beginning with a tip-in by Desmond Mason, the Cowboys scored on 10 straight possessions, going 8-of-8 from the field, and capped the run with consecutive 3-pointers by Glendon Alexander and Adrian Peterson to take a 58-52 lead.
Against the OSU press, Kansas State (11-3, 0-1) committed five of its 15 turnovers during the surge, and missed all four of its shots from the field.
"Sometimes when you press, it loosens you up offensively," OSU coach Eddie Sutton said. "I thought our press did do some good things. We forced some turnovers and forced them into maybe some hurried shots."
Kansas State didn't fold, however, and forced overtime when Chris Griffin scored on a leaner in the lane with 20 seconds remaining - the Wildcats' third shot of the possession.
"I was pleased with that," Asbury said. "We could have just laid down and gotten beat by six in regulation, and everybody would have said, Well, here's K-State who went in and played them a pretty good game.' But it was a winnable game."
Each team scored in the first minute of overtime, but the Wildcats then went more than three minutes without a basket as Oklahoma State took a 71-65 lead.
Kansas State got within 71-69 with 27 seconds remaining before the Cowboys made four straight free throws to seal it.
"We needed to play our type of basketball - don't get in a rush, make them play a little defense and get in a rhythm," said Peterson, who had 24 points and nine rebounds. "I knew sooner or later we'd make a run just because of the amount of talent we have and the way we play."
Mason scored 19 points for the Cowboys, while Alexander had 16 points and eight rebounds and Doug Gottlieb had 10 assists.
Josh Reid had 21 points and 12 rebounds for Kansas State, which shot 51 percent in the first half but just 37 percent after that. Tony Kitt added 10 points and 10 rebounds.
