Huskers Thrash OSU

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) Marcus Perry scored 25 points as Nebraska opened up a 29-point lead early in the 2nd-half, then withstood an Oklahoma State rally to take an 85-73 win Monday.<br/><br/>Nebraska (17-13,

Monday, March 5th 2007, 9:46 pm

By: News On 6

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) Marcus Perry scored 25 points as Nebraska opened up a 29-point lead early in the 2nd-half, then withstood an Oklahoma State rally to take an 85-73 win Monday.

Nebraska (17-13, 6-10) made its first five shots of the 2nd-half, 4-of them 3-pointers. The Cornhuskers raced to a 49-23 lead on Jay-R Strowbridge's 3-pointer with 17:23 remaining.

Nebraska went up by 29 on Strowbridge's layup a minute later, making the score 54-25.

Oklahoma State (20-11, 6-10) put together an 18-7 run to cut the Nebraska lead to 61-43 on Byron Eaton's 3-pointer with 11:45 left.

The Cowboys cut the lead to 14 on Obi Muonelo's 3-pointer with 7:25 remaining and closed to 74-65 on JamesOn Curry's jumper in the lane with 2:21 remaining.

Eaton's 3-pointer with 1:07 left cut the Nebraska lead to 77-70. Nebraska's Charles Richardson Jr. made one of two free throws.

The Cowboys' Terrel Harris then drove the lane and hit the floor. Oklahoma State coach Sean Sutton protested and was given a technical foul. Perry and Aleks Maric, who got the rebound of Harris' miss, each hit a pair of free throws to push the Cornhuskers lead to 12 points with 52 seconds left.

Nebraska never trailed in the game, opening up an 8-0 lead before Oklahoma State got its first basket with 13:36 left in the half.

The Cornhuskers took a double digit lead on Perry's 3-pointer with 7:08 remaining in the half made the score 21-10 in the half, and Perry's 3-pointer with a minute left in the half gave Nebraska a 36-23 advantage.

Nebraska and Oklahoma State will play again Thursday in the first round of the Big 12 Conference tournament in Oklahoma City. Monday's game made up for a game postponed in January.

Maric added 23 points and 13 rebounds for Nebraska. Paul Velander had a career-high 20 points for Nebraska, and Strowbridge finished with 11.

Eaton led Oklahoma State with 25 points, and Muonelo had 24 points, making 8 of 11 3-point shots. Mario Boggan had 10 for the Cowboys.