OSU Men Fall to Colorado 75-71

Oklahoma State got into foul trouble and couldn’t hold on against the Buffs in Big 12 play.

Thursday, May 26th 2011, 12:09 pm

By: News On 6

Originally Published: Jan 15, 2011 4:16 PM CDT

Layna Dewell
Oklahoma Sports Staff Writer

BOULDER, Colorado—The Oklahoma State men’s basketball team lost its second straight game Saturday on the road against Colorado 75-71.

In front of the first sellout crowd of the season in Colorado, the story of the afternoon was OSU’s foul trouble and how Colorado stayed in the game thanks to free throws and rebounding.

Jean-Paul Olukemi got his first career Big 12 start, and would prove his worth throughout the game and end up as the high scorer for the Cowboys.

Oklahoma State got into foul trouble early, as forward Marshall Moses picked up two fouls in less than three minutes.

OSU went on a 7-0 run with midway through the first half, but as the game went on, the Cowboys could not keep from fouling on the defensive end. By halftime OSU led 38-34, but had four players with two fouls each.

Colorado went to the free throw line 18 times in the first half alone where they shot a season high 17-of-18 from the charity stripe.

Oklahoma State shot 5-12 from three point and 14-30 from field goal range in the first half while Colorado shot a season low 7-27 from the field and 3-of-12 from three point range.

The second half the game stayed tight but in the final four minutes Colorado built a four point lead, their largest of the night.

Darrell Williams fouled out with just over four minutes left in the game, then with 1:22 left, Matt Pilgrim committed his fifth personal foul as well.

Oklahoma State did a good job of scoring inside the paint. Overall, they tallied 32 points in the lane, double what CU scored down low.

In the final 10.8 seconds Colorado'sAlec Burks put in four free throwsto close out the game. Burks finished with 20 points, on the night.

The win puts Colorado at 14-3 and more importantly 3-0 in Big 12 play this season, which is the first time ever the Buffs have gotten off to such a start.

How did Colorado win the game? The Buffs won by rebounding and making free throws. Overall CU shot 34-of-39 from the free throw line and pulled down 34 rebounds, 14 of which were offensive boards.

Cory Higginshad an impressive afternoonleading all scorers with 23 points while also making all 10 ofhis free throws to boost his career total to 487, surpassing Donnie Boyce (480) for the school record.

Marcus Relphorde added 14 points for Colorado while Andre Roberson came off the bench to score seven and steal the ball twice.

Jean-Paul Olukemifinished with21 points to lead the Cowboys while Keiton Page added 19 points on 5-of-7 shooting from the three point line.

OSU (13-4, 1-3)returns to action Wednesday Jan. 19 hosting Iowa State at 8 p.m.