OSU Rallies to Take Down No. 17 Kansas State

Oklahoma State put together a big second half to beat the Wildcats in the conference opener.

Thursday, May 26th 2011, 12:08 pm

By: News On 6

OSU Rallies to Take Down No. 17 Kansas State

Originally Published: Jan 8, 2011 3:1 PM CDT

Layna Dewell
Oklahoma Sports Staff Writer

STILLWATER, Oklahoma—Oklahoma State put together a big second half to overcame an eight point deficit and take down the No. 17 Kansas State Wildcats 76-62.

The conference opener got off to a bit of a slow start, but it didn’t take long for the energy to rise inside Gallagher-Iba Arena.

Midway through the first half the game picked up thanks to both teams running the floor and using penetration to score easy points in transition.

The first half of play featured nine lead changes, and each team pulling down 17 rebounds. OSU had the slight advantage in steals with six to KSU’s one, and the Cowboys had only six turnovers while the Wildcats had 12.

Jacob Pullen paced all scorers in the first half with 11 points while Jean-Paul Olukemi came off the bench for Oklahoma State and led them in scoring at the break with eight points and five rebounds.

OSU went 9-23 from the field while OSU was 10-28 in the first half. Kansas State had the biggest advantage over OSU from behind the three point arc where they were 4-9 while Oklahoma State went 0-5.

Fouls became an issue for both squads as play continued in the second half. Darrell Williams missed significant court time due to three fouls in three minutes in the first half, and he was out of the game with 14 minutes left due to his final two fouls coming in just over three minutes in the second.

Kansas State went up as many as eight points, but as the personal foul count continued to rise for both teams, so did the importance of free throws.

With just over 8:30 left in the game, the Cowboys trailed 49-43 and KSU’s Rodney McGruder fouled Keiton Page and sent him to the free throw line where he made all three attempts to pull OSU within three.

Then K-State’s Jordan Henriquez-Roberts made contact with Olukemi as he put up a shot and Roberts was called for his final foul but the basket counted and Olukemi made his free throw to tie the game at 49.

With 5:29 left, K-State’s Jamar Samuel had a big block inside over Marshall Moses, but OSU in bounded the ball and Moses slipped past Samuels deep in the paint to kissed the ball off the glass for the two point basket.

After that play, Samuels let his frustration get the best of him and was then called for a technical foul. Page took the charity stripe for the Cowboys and made both to put Oklahoma State up 60-54.

KSU switched to a zone but OSU’s Olukemi put up a quick three pointer off the inbounds play to give OSU the 63-54 advantage with 4:40 left in regulation. From there the Cowboys never looked back; going up by as many as 14.

Kansas State, who was picked to win the conference in the preseason, could do nothing but sit back and watch as they had four players foul out of the game.

The Wildcats entered the game at No. 17 but have not won in Stillwater since 1993 and now sit at 12-4 on the season.

Olukemi continued his first half success and finished his first Big 12 conference game as the leading scorer with a double-double: 22 points, 11 rebounds.

Both Keiton Page and Marshall Moses finished with 16 points apiece while Jacob Pullen led the Wildcats with 20 points, 11 of which were free throws.

Interestingly enough, the game had some big numbers in unusual categories like 57 personal fouls , 64 rebounds and 74 free throw attempts between the two teams—that’s nearly as many free throws and rebounds as there were points!

Oklahoma State is now 8-0 on the home floor and 13-2 on the season.

Both teams take the court again Wed. January 12 as Oklahoma State will travel to Texas A&M for a 7 p.m. matchup while Kansas State will host Colorado at 8 p.m. CST.