Cowboys Roll Mavericks In Turnover Filled Game

Oklahoma State's game against UT-Arlington Wednesday night proved an old basketball idea still holds quite true:

It's hard to win when you turn the ball over a lot.

The Cowboys forced the Mavericks into 31 turnovers and 39.1 percent shooting as Oklahoma State cruised to an easy 69-44 win.

Oklahoma State jumped out to an early 13-3 lead, forcing six turnovers in the first five minutes of the game. The Cowboys never trailed in the game.

Markel Brown led the Cowboys with 17 points, while Phil Forte chipped in 13 off the bench. Marcus Smart and Le'Bryan Nash each contributed 10 points to round out the double-digit scorers for the Pokes.

Down 25-8, the Mavericks went on a brief 9-3 run to cut the Cowboys lead to 11 with 3:29 remaining in the first half. However, that's as close as the Mavericks would get.

UTA was led by Jamel Outler with 14 points, while Kevin Butler was the only other player in double figures with 11 points.

The turnovers were so plentiful for the Mavericks that UTA didn't have more points than turnovers until a layup from Drew Charles with 9:48 remaining in the game made it 28 points to 27 turnovers. The OSU record for opponent turnovers in a game is 36, but UTA took better care of the ball down the stretch to avoid going down in infamy.

The Cowboys are back in action Saturday against Tennessee Tech in Stillwater. Tip time is set for noon.