Cowboys Open Season with Victory

OSU defeats Houston Baptist to start the season 1-0.

Thursday, May 26th 2011, 12:02 pm

By: News On 6

Originally Published: Nov 13, 2010 6:43 PM CDT

Grant Belcher
Oklahoma Sports Staff Writer

STILLWATER, Oklahoma – In the midst of one of the more successful football seasons in OSU history, another Cowboy program hit the hardwood for its first game.

Oklahoma State knocked off Houston Baptist 86-73 on Saturday at Gallagher-Iba Arena to start off the 2010-11 season 1-0.

Forward Marshall Moses led OSU with 17 points and had seven rebounds.

Moses played 25 minutes and had four fouls after struggling with foul trouble throughout the preseason.

OSU coach Travis Ford said it's obvious his team has a long way to go.

"Yes, I’m unhappy in a lot of these areas, but this is a good gauge to see where we’re at and where we want to go," he said. "We have to improve in a lot of areas to become a better team.”

Newcomer JP Olukemi had 16 points and seven rebounds, while Keiton Page and Nick Sidorakis both scored in double digits for the Cowboys.

Houston Baptist had two players score more than 20 and also shot 69 percent from the 3-point line.

OSU was able to overcome a sluggish shooting day, hitting 25 percent of its 3s and only 62 percent from the free-throw line.

“I think if you saw the look of Marshall’s (Moses) eyes and the look in Keiton’s (Page) eyes when I was addressing the team after the game, then you could see in their eyes what they’re thinking because they know how tough this is,” Ford said. “We can see a little bit of concern in their eyes and that we’re better than this. We need to be better than this.”

Forward Matt Pilgrim had seven points and eight rebounds in 13 minutes, helping OSU to a 38-4 advantage in points in the paint.

Oklahoma State will host Texas A&M – Corpus Christi at 7 p.m. on Wednesday.