No. 10 Oklahoma St. 84, Missouri 72

Tuesday, February 22nd 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) -- Desmond Mason had 25 points and nine rebounds as Oklahoma State held off a furious late rally by Missouri for an 84-72 victory Monday night. Brian Montonati added 16 points and 11 rebounds for the Cowboys(22-3, 11-2 Big 12), who have won eight of nine and moved into first place in the conference.

Oklahoma State overcame a season-high 24 turnovers. The Cowboys seemingly pulled away by hitting 10 of their first 12 shots after the break, leading by as many as 20 points. The gap was still 14 when the Cowboys had a shot clock violation with 2:30 to go. Missouri hit five 3-pointers the rest of the way, and trailed by only four after Kareem Rush connected with 51 seconds to go.

Oklahoma State escaped when Mason answered with a dunk after a length-of-court pass. Keyon Dooling had 19 points for Missouri (16-9, 9-4). The Tigers have lost three in a row at home for the first time since 1992-93, with all the games against ranked opponents.

Oklahoma State, which also got 21 points from Joe Adkins and 12 from Glendon Alexander, had been 2-26 at the Hearnes Center. The Big 12's top defense stifled the Tigers until the late going. Missouri began 1-for-13 and shot 34 per cent.

Kareem Rush, who averaged 25 points last week, was held to 13. Clarence Gilbert, averaging 13 points, missed his first eight shots and finished 1-for-11 with three points. Mason hit a 3-pointer just before the half time buzzer for a 28-23 lead and he had two more baskets in the opening 1:33 of the second half to help Oklahoma State open the gap.

Alexander's 3-pointer gave Oklahoma State 10 baskets in 12 shots to start the half and a 54-37 lead with 11:18 to play. Oklahoma State had a surprisingly tough time in the first half considering Missouri's horrid start. The Cowboys shot 48 per cent, held Missouri to 28 percent shooting and had a 19-11 rebounding advantage, but hurt themselves with 13 turnovers. Missouri didn't make a conventional basket until Pat Schumacher made a lay up with 8:28 to go in the half, but shot 50 per cent the last 10 minutes to get back in.