Oklahoma State University Athletics
Oklahoma State University
North Texas
Cowboys Subdue Mean Green, 82-68
November 21, 2009 | Cowboy Basketball
Nov. 21, 2009
STILLWATER, Okla. (AP) - James Anderson scored 25 points and three others scored in double figures Saturday as Oklahoma State beat North Texas, 82-66.
Obi Muonelo scored 17 points, Keiton Page 13 and Marshall Moses 10 for the Cowboys (3-0). Anderson and Moses each pulled down nine rebounds.
"We played with a level of intensity I haven't seen in our basketball team," said head coach Travis Ford after the game. "Something I've been concerned about is being able to sustain our work ethic because it's been coming in spurts. But tonight, I thought we sustained it for a 40-minute period."
North Texas (2-1), coming off an overtime victory at Texas-Arlington on Wednesday, got 16 points from Eric Tramiel and 11 points from George Odufuwa.
Josh White, coming off a 35-point effort against Texas-Arlington, did not score his first points until 3:30 remained for the Mean Green. He finished with four points on 1-of-6 shooting.
The Cowboys used a pair of freshmen - Ray Penn and Fred Gulley - plus some solid trap defense in slowing down White.
"Our game plan was to try and stop their all-league point guard (White), one of the better point guards in the country," Ford said. "It was going to be a tough challenge because we're doing it with two freshmen. I thought those two outplayed Josh White tonight, and I thought we did a great job of taking him out of the game.
"I'm very proud of our two freshmen and I told them in the locker room that they just set the standard very high for themselves and we will expect that out of them every night."
North Texas trailed by 12 at halftime but drew to within 51-49 with just over 14 minutes to play. However, a 20-8 run keyed by Anderson and Muonelo over the next 10 minutes saw the Cowboys take control.
The Mean Green drew to within 10 with just over two minutes to play but a 3-pointer by Page pushed the margin back to 13.
Anderson buried a 3-point field goal in transition late in the first half to help the Cowboys lead 44-32 at halftime. The Cowboys made 19 of 31 shot attempts in a half that saw eight lead changes.
North Texas outrebounded their hosts, 35-33, getting eight rebounds from Jacob Holmen off the bench. Odufuwa added seven boards for the Mean Green.
Oklahoma State will host Prairie View A&M (1-1) on Tuesday, Nov. 24, at 7 p.m. inside Gallagher-Iba Arena.
