Iowa State, Oklahoma State on course to collide

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Of all the compliments being thrown Marcus Fizer's way, no one ever said Iowa State's muscular star was perfect.<br> <br>And he's obviously not. In the Cyclones'

Sunday, February 13th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Of all the compliments being thrown Marcus Fizer's way, no one ever said Iowa State's muscular star was perfect.

And he's obviously not. In the Cyclones' 87-65 demolition of Nebraska on Saturday, Fizer tried 10 field goals and made only 9,
the bum. Then he sat out most of the second half, resting his sore foot, content merely to score 23 points as the 17th-ranked Cyclones
(21-3 overall, 9-1 Big 12) took pity on the Huskers and stayed tied with No. 14 Oklahoma State for the Big 12 lead.

"It was great to sit on the bench and watch the other guys have fun," said Fizer, who had a raspy throat as well as the two bone spurs on the right foot. "It was a nice break for me."

The Cowboys (20-2, 9-1) kept pace with a tougher assignment, winning 74-71 at No. 16 Oklahoma before a school-record crowd of
13,280.

Oklahoma, the only Big 12 school playing a ranked team this weekend, was also the only ranked team to lose.

No. 20 Kansas rebounded from one of its worst defeats to one of its most lopsided wins -- a 94-65 stomping of Kansas State. No. 18 Texas, in probably the most entertaining game of the day, slipped past Missouri 66-63.

Elsewhere, Bernard King set a Big 12 freshman scoring record with 34 points as Texas A&M beat Colorado 74-69, and Texas Tech finally broke into the win column with a 79-68 victory over Baylor.

Iowa State, which has won 18 of its last 19, now enters the orneriest part of its schedule. The Cyclones are facing four road games and only two home games. Luckily for them, the two home games are against Texas and Oklahoma State. Its toughest road game in
that decisive stretch could come Wednesday night at Kansas.

"These last six games are very, very difficult with the two we have at home and the four on the road," said coach Larry Eustachy, "We're in position; we just have to take advantage of it and stay healthy."

At Norman, there was no time left on the clock when Eduardo Najera launched what he hoped would be a game-tying buzzer-beating
3-pointer against Oklahoma State. It missed, but the Sooners had almost come all the way back from a 20-point deficit.

"You know, we can't get down like we did in the first half and climb the side of that mountain without a little help," said coach
Kelvin Sampson.

Oklahoma (19-4, 7-3) dropped into a fourth-place tie with Missouri, Kansas and Texas.

In the battle between Najera and Oklahoma State's Desmond Mason, contenders for Big 12 player of the year, Najera had 21 points and
seven rebounds to Mason's 12 and two.

Jeff Boschee snapped out of a shooting slump with 24 points as Kansas rebounded from a 33-point loss at Oklahoma State on Monday
to hand the reeling Wildcats their 10th straight loss. To the continuing anger of Kansas State fans, it was also thir 18th straight loss to Kansas. Since Bramlage Coliseum opened in 1988-89, Kansas has won there every year.

The heat is certain to get turned up now on Kansas State coach Tom Asbury, and his players know it.

"Coach Asbury can only prepare you to play," said Tony Kitt, whose 20 points led the Wildcats. "All the coaches prepare us every single day with all the things we need to win games."

The first sellout crowd of the year in Bramlage Coliseum seemed about half Kansas fans. Their chant, "Rock-chalk, Jayhawk," rang
out many times.

"It is up to us to go out and win games," Kitt said. "Coach Asbury shouldn't get the blame for this."

Chris Mihm had 15 points for Texas as the Longhorns handed the Tigers their second loss in a row. But Missouri coach Quin Snyder
could hardly be mad at his team's effort.

"I should be taken out and drawn and quartered if I was mad at my team right now," Snyder said. "Those guys spilled everything
for 40 minutes, against one of the best teams in the country and had a chance for the ball to go in and win the game."

King came into the Colorado game in a slump that seemed to be continuing when he hit just four of his first 12 shots. But then he hit six of seven down the stretch and missed only one of 11 free throws.

"Freshmen tend to ride a roller coaster and tonight we caught him on the up part of that roller coaster," said Colorado coach Ricardo Patton. "He really had a good game."

Texas Tech had lost nine consecutive conference games before finally getting over the hump by beating Baylor.

"I'm glad we ended the losing streak," said Rayford Young, who had 20 points. "This was something good for us to go be able to finish one out."

The Red Raiders had been winless since a 51-41 victory against Centenary on Jan. 10.