NCAA East: OSU's Mason, mates spread scoring, down Hofstra

BUFFALO, N.Y. - You can call Eddie Sutton a "preparation freak" if you like. But there is a reason the veteran Oklahoma State coach always gets his teams out of the first round.<br><br><br><br>Box score

Saturday, March 18th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

BUFFALO, N.Y. - You can call Eddie Sutton a "preparation freak" if you like. But there is a reason the veteran Oklahoma State coach always gets his teams out of the first round.

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Friday night, the third-seeded Cowboys dismantled No. 14 Hofstra, 86-66, in their NCAA East Regional opening-round encounter at HSCB Arena.

Oklahoma State is a perfect 8-for-8 in tournament openers under Sutton's stewardship. "It surprised me that we won this easily," said Sutton. "I looked at so much Hofstra film, and I saw what they did, and I had concern about whether or not our defense could shut them down as well as we did."

As it turned out, any such worries were needless. Not with Waxahachie native Desmond Mason pouring in 30 points (two off his career high). Not with four other Cowboys piling up double-digit scoring performances. And not with a crunching defense which Hofstra's top guns, guard Craig "Speedy" Claxton and forward Norman Richardson, struggle to get their points.

Both Dutchmen finished with 20 points, most of which came long after the issue was settled, which was very early on.

"You can see why we win first-round games," said OSU point guard Doug Gottlieb (6 points, 8 assists). "[It's] preparation. We watched more film on Hofstra than we did on Oklahoma, and you know how big those games are for us. We prepared, and prepared, and overprepared. We knew everything they ran, and we knew everything they had. It was just a matter of the team coming out and running what the coaches had prepared us to do."

It didn't hurt that the Dutchmen, whose only lead came on a Claxton layup off the opening tipoff, gave the Cowboys help by missing what open shots they did have early on, and by turning the ball over seven times in the opening seven minutes.

During one eight-minute stretch, Hofstra inflicted misery on itself when they managed exactly two points, both on free throws, while the Cowboys opened up 20-9 lead. Their problems started after Claxton threaded a nifty pass through the lane to center Greg Springfield, whose stuff attempt caromed high off the rim. That was followed by two excellent defensive stops by Gottlieb, both of them against Claxton.

The second of those wound up as a long three-pointer by Mason. "We needed to play a near-perfect game," said Hofstra coach Jay Wright. "And we didn't."

Oklahoma State wound up shooting 54.3 percent from the field, including Mason, who hit on 11-of-17 of his field goal attempts while netting the third-highest point total in an NCAA Tournament game.

Only Bob Mattick (35 against TCU in 1953) and Bryant Reeves (32 against Tulsa in 1994) have had bigger games. Contrast that with the Dutchmen who were held to 43.2 percent, including a paltry 36.4 while the game was still within reach.

Dan Hickling is a free-lance writer based in Kennebunkport, Maine.