Oklahoma State University Athletics
Cowboys Roll to Season-Opening Victory
July 18, 2003 | Cowboy Basketball
STILLWATER, Okla. -- Oklahoma State started its men's basketball season on the right foot Saturday night, rolling past Texas-Pan American 103-71.
Leading returning scorer Adrian Peterson hit three three-pointers and scored a game-high 24 points, and Desmond Mason scored a career-high 19 -- 12 of which came on crowd-pleasing dunks. Sophomore point guard Doug Gottlieb, in his first year at OSU, handled UTPA's press well, dishing out eight assists and committing just two turnovers.
OSU shot 56.5 percent from the field and held the visiting Broncs to 39.4 percent. UTPA didn't help its cause from the free-throw line, missing nine of 14 attempts.
All 12 Cowboys scored in the game, and head coach Eddie Sutton was pleased with the team's effort.
"Overall, I thought we played pretty well," said Sutton. "We handled the press. It is the first time we have really looked at a press, and we did so without too many turnovers. The second half, we got a little careless and forced the ball two or three times and made errors. I am glad that we got to play everybody. For the first game, until I look at the film, I am pretty satisfied."
Senior center Brett Robisch scored 12 points and had 10 rebounds for the third double-double of his career.
The Cowboys hit the century mark for the first time since the 1995 squad defeated Alaska-Anchorage 112-72 on Jan. 2, 1995. The Cowboys scored 90 points or more only three times in the past two seaons and had not scored over 90 since Feb. 18, 1996.
The Cowboys have won 71 consecutive non-conference home games, the longest such current streak in the nation. The Cowboys' streak is the sixth-longest in NCAA history; Oklahoma's 74-game skein during the late 1980s is fifth.
OSU continues its long early-season homestand with a Tuesday-evening matchup with Buducnost (Yugoslavia). Tipoff is at 7:05 p.m. The Cowboys' next regular-season game is a Gallagher-Iba Arena contest against Creighton next Saturday, Nov. 22, also at 7:05 p.m.
