Oklahoma State Hoops Loses Second Exhibition in Spain, Valencia All-Stars Win 82-78
Oklahoma State bused over to Valencia for the next leg of their trip to Spain and the port city is full of gorgeous sights and seascapes. Our friend Larry Reece, who has contributed to our coverage will tell you they hae excellent seafood as well. Oklahoma State learned that tthey have plenty of good basketball players, especially shooters as the Cowboys lost to a team of professionals playing as the Valencia All-Stars 82-78.
This was not the same team that Illinois, also over in Spain on a tour, beat 105-60 in the same gymnasium on Wednesday, That team was not all professionals and played under the name Barcelona All-Stars.
It started well enough as Isaiah Miranda shook off an injury and started. He gave the Cowboys the lead with an attention getting slam dunk for a 2-0 start. Miranda finished with nine points and four rebounds. The other starters were Bryce Thompson, Eric Dailey Jr., Jarius Hicklen, and Javon Small.
Shooting was the issue as after a good start with the first win on Tuesday and some excellent three-point shooting the Cowboys cooled shooting only 36.5 percent (31-85) overall and 39 percent (20-51) from three-point range.
The Valencia All-Stars were 15-34 from three-point range for 44.1 percent and they shot 45 percent overall. Their shooting paved the way for a 22-12 lead after the first quarter and 43-30 at the half. Oklahoma State trailed 70-54 midway through the final quarter and closed to make it 82-78 outscoring the All-Stars at the end 24-12, but it was not enough.
Justin McBride led Oklahoma State in scoring with 17 points on 6-of-9 shooting, Seven-foot post player Brandon Garrison, the McDonald’s All-American from Del City added 12 points and 12 rebounds for a strong double-double. Quion Williams had 11 points as did newcomer Eric Dailey Jr.
The Cowboys outrebounded the Valenica All-Stars 49-42 and turnovers were in favor of the Pokes as well with Valencia giving up the ball 19 times to the Cowboys 11 turnovers.
The Cowboys finish the trip to Spain with their third game on Sunday at noon we believe against the Barcelona All-Stars.