Cowboys soar in second half

By The Associated Press     Jan 28, 2007

Brody Schmidt/AP Photo
Oklahoma State's JamesOn curry, left, drives past Iowa State's Mike Taylor. Curry scored 14 points in the Cowboys' 62-50 victory Saturday in Stillwater, Okla.

? Terrel Harris kept No. 13 Oklahoma State afloat in the first half. His teammates came along for the ride after halftime.

Harris scored a career-high 21 points as the Cowboys overcame a woeful first half to beat Iowa State, 62-50, on Saturday night, the six-year anniversary of a plane crash that killed 10 men connected to the school’s basketball program.

Oklahoma State extended its winning streak in Gallagher-Iba Arena to 16 games and snapped a three-game home losing streak to teams from the conference’s North Division.

Iowa State has lost four straight. The Cyclones have beaten Oklahoma State only once in the last nine meetings, including Saturday’s.

The game Saturday was Oklahoma State’s first on a Jan. 27 since the plane crash. The university didn’t hold a formal memorial service, but fans at the game did observe a moment of silence to honor the memory of the crash victims.

In the first half, the Cowboys seemed to play like their hearts weren’t in the game, coach Sean Sutton said.

That prompted an impassioned halftime speech from Sutton.

“I just told them how important this game was,” Sutton said. “If they want to have a chance to win the Big 12, if they want to have a chance to make the NCAA Tournament, this is a game that they had to win, and it was important for more reasons than that, because this day was the anniversary of the plane crash.

“I thought they responded well in the second half and played with a lot of intensity.”

The Cowboys quickly erased the deficit, opening the second half on a 12-0 run.

No. 6 Texas A&M 70, Oklahoma 61

College Station, Texas – Antanas Kavaliauskas scored 20 points, and Acie Law added 19, including 12 in the last four minutes, as Texas A&M snapped a 14-game losing streak to Oklahoma.

The win was A&M’s 19th straight at home.

It was A&M’s first win over Oklahoma since 1998 and just its second in the 27-game series.

Missouri 71, Texas Tech 58

Columbia, Mo. – Stefhon Hannah led a balanced attack with 15 points and four assists, and Missouri’s all-court pressure knocked Texas Tech out of its rhythm.

Marshall Brown and Leo Lyons each had 11 points for Missouri, which won its second straight conference game after an 0-4 start under first-year coach Mike Anderson, who won his first matchup with Bobby Knight.

Texas 84, Baylor 79

Austin, Texas – Freshman Kevin Durant scored 34 points, and A.J. Abrams hit six three-pointers to lead Texas.

Abrams finished with 22 points, and his last three-pointer put Texas up by seven with 1:41 to play. Connor Atchely scored seven in an 8-2 Texas run that gave the Longhorns the lead late in the second half.

PREV POST

Extra Minutes: Kansas 97, Colorado 74

NEXT POST

23339Cowboys soar in second half