Oklahoma State Rolls to 82-60 Blowout of Ole Miss in Final Big 12/SEC Challenge

STILLWATER – Oklahoma State had little to no trouble taking care of business of Ole Miss in the final Big 12/SEC Challenge game, rolling to an 82-60 win over the Rebels.

With the win, the Cowboys move to 12-9 overall and remain 3-5 in Big 12 play.

Kalib Boone led the way with 18 points on a perfect 6-of-6 from the field and 6-of-8 from the free throw line. He also had four rebounds.

Avery Anderson III finished the game with 17 points on 3-of-5 shooting from the field, 0-for-1 from beyond 3-point range. He did, however, go a perfect 11-of-11 from the free throw line.

The Cowboys outrebounded the Rebels 39-29, 28-15 on the defensive end.

It was a solid first half for the Pokes as they entered into halftime with an 11-point lead, their first lead since the start of Big 12 play against Kansas back on New Year’s Eve.

The Pokes shot an impressive 52% from the field in the first half, while outrebounding Ole Miss 19-16, with 10 second chance points.

They’d finish the game shooting nearly 53% from the field, 35% from 3-point range and 88% from the free throw line.

Woody Newton tied his career-high of 12 points by the end of the first half, shooting an impressive 5-of-6 from the field, 1-of-2 from 3-point range and 1-of-1 from the free throw line.

Kalib Boone got the Pokes on the board first with an and-one layup, putting the Pokes up 3-0 a minute into the game. The Rebels responded on the trip back down the court with a three from Amaree Abram. Woody Newton, however, also had a response as he scored the first three points of his 12 first half points.

The Cowboys’ defense was really solid in the first 10 minutes of the game as they held the Rebels without a field goal for nearly four minutes. After a couple of quick buckets by the Rebels, the Cowboys once again held them to a near-four-minute field goal drought, but they also didn’t allow a point during that stretch of time, jumping out to a 12-point lead, 27-15 with seven minutes left in the first half.

Ole Miss came out of the break with Jae Brakefield sinking two free throws and a field goal, but the Pokes had answers John-Michael Wright hit another 3-pointer, followed by another and-one layup by Boone, putting the Pokes up 13, 44-31.

The Cowboys continued to play solid on both ends the first 10 minutes of the second half as they held the Rebels to another four-plus minute scoring drought, while expanding their lead on the other end up to 21 points, 53-32, with 14 minutes left in the game.

Freshman Quion Williams hit his first bucket of the game with a 3-pointer at the 13-minute mark to put the Pokes back up 21, 56-37, after two quick buckets by the Rebels.

Ole Miss started to make a run of its own following a couple of fouls on the Cowboys, as well as a goaltending call against Moussa Cisse. The Rebels made a quick 8-0 run in just over a minute to cut the Pokes’ lead to just 13, 58-45, with the Cowboys on a near-four-minute scoring drought going the other way. That was combined with five turnovers in four minutes.

Kalib Boone ended that scoreless streak with a free throw, but missed the second of two, 59-45.

The Rebels cut the Pokes lead back to just 12 points with 5:41 left in the game with a fastbreak layup from Burns, but the Pokes went on a quick 7-0 run and had an answer for the next three buckets by Ole Miss, keeping a 20-point lead with just two minutes remaining, 78-58.