Oklahoma State University Athletics
Oklahoma State University
UTSA
Cowboys Defeat Texas-San Antonio, 83-53
December 04, 2003 | Cowboy Basketball
STILLWATER, Okla. (AP) -- Eddie Sutton and nearly everyone else was getting bored with Oklahoma State's listless performance in the first half.
That's about the time Tony Allen jolted the coach and crowd awake with his personal dunk show.
Allen scored the Cowboys' last 11 points of the half, including a thunderous one-handed slam off an alley-oop that sparked the game's decisive run in No. 25 Oklahoma State's 83-53 rout of Texas-San Antonio on Wednesday night.
Until then "that first half will put you to sleep," Sutton said. "I told the team at halftime I'd be embarrassed if you guys played like that (in the second half).
"These people come here to see quality basketball and they were putting everybody to sleep."
Allen's dunk -- followed by two other impressive ones -- punctuated a 15-0 run that lasted into the second half and gave the Cowboys (4-0) a 45-26 lead.
UTSA (1-4) didn't score its first basket of the second half until LeRoy Hurd's 3-pointer with 14:16 left.
"We started the game off sluggish in the first half," Oklahoma State point guard John Lucas said. "We like to get down the floor because we have so many athletes, but their zone contained us a little bit."
Lucas, Joey Graham and David Monds each scored 11 points for the Cowboys.
Oklahoma State steadily built on its lead in the second half, shooting 71 percent from the field.
The Cowboys also muscled around the undersized Roadrunners -- they had no player heavier than 225 pounds -- outscoring them 46-6 in the paint.
UTSA mostly settled for off-balance jumpers as the game got out of hand, finishing 17-of-50 from the field (34 percent).
"In the second half, to be honest, OSU probably scored 80 percent of their points from the paint," said UTSA coach Tim Carter, an assistant at Oklahoma State from 1988-90. "They played their game very well in the second half and we just couldn't stop them."
Hurd led the Roadrunners with 17 points and Rapheal Posey added 13.
The sole highlight of the game's final few lethargic minutes was Graham's soaring dunk from right wing over UTSA's Anthony Fuqua. Graham was fouled on the play and, as he came down, knocked down three other defenders to the court.
The slam sent the orange-clad crowd of 9,450 into a frenzy, and much of Oklahoma State's bench spilled onto the court in laughter. No technical foul was called on the lively celebration, though.
Oklahoma State has won 31 straight non-conference home games and 110 of its last 111.
