Oklahoma State Turns Up Second Half Pressure for 85-69 Win Over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
STILLWATER – It was a tale of two halves from Oklahoma State as the Cowboys rolled to an 85-69 win over Texas A&M Corpus Christi in Gallagher-Iba Arena on Sunday afternoon.
With the win, the Cowboys moved to 4-0 on the season, marking the first time since the 2020-21 season the Cowboys have started a season 4-0. That was Cade Cunningham’s freshman season and the Pokes started 6-0.
The Cowboys were led by Anthony Roy in his first game of the season for the Pokes. He finished with 15 points on 5-of-12 shooting from the floor.
There were four other Cowboys in double figures as Vyctorius Miller finished with 13 points and Isaiah Coleman, Lefteris Mantzoukas and Andrij Vukovic all finished with 10 points.
Mantzoukas also recorded a double-double as he had 10 rebounds as well, with his 10th board coming in the final two minutes of the game.
“I'm happy for him because he, I'm sure, put a lot of pressure on himself to make a [3-pointer], but he's been a career 40-plus 3-point shooter in professional league,” Lutz said of Mantzoukas’ double-double. “So, I don't ever anticipate him not shooting the ball well. But just as a competitor and as a player who works really hard, I'm sure seeing the ball go through the basket is really good for him. But as you saw, I mean, he's got more to his game than just catching and shooting. 10 rebounds for him is fantastic. If he'll give us 10 rebounds a night at, I don't know what he played, 24, 25 minutes, man, that's pretty darn good. So, we need more consistency out of the entire group, and I know that he wants that and the rest of those guys want that. So, we’ve just got to strive towards that.”
As a team, the Cowboys shot 50% from the floor, just 21% from 3-point range and 81% from the free throw line.
The comparison between halves stand at 43% from the floor and 8% from 3-point range in the first half and 57% from the floor and 33% from 3-point range.
On the game, they outrebounded the Islanders 44-30, 34-21 on the defensive end and 10-9 on the offensive end. They also outscored the 42-34 in the paint and 47-41 in bench points.
Turnovers were an issue for the Pokes as they turned it over 17 times, but only gave up 17 points.
It’s a tight first half for the Pokes as the Islanders finished the first half on a 7-0 run, coupled with a near-three-minute scoring drought by the Pokes to go into halftime with OSU leading 37-35.
The Cowboys shot just 8% from 3-point range in the first half, with 10 turnovers leading to 10 points for the Islanders.
Corpus Christi came out of the break and tied the game up at 37, before the Pokes turned up the pressure on offense and jumped out to a nine-point lead, 45-37 three minutes in.
Nearly 24 minutes after the Pokes’ first 3-pointer of the game, just one minute in from Vyctorius Miller, Kanye Clary gave the Pokes’ their second near the 15-minute mark of the second half. That made them 2-of-15 from 3-point range. Just a few minutes later, Ryan Crotty gave them their third to make it a 12-point game, 56-44.
The Islanders hung around near a single-digit game as Leo Torbor was fouled on a drive and hit both free throws to make it 58-47. But that didn’t last for long as the separation began over the next few minutes as the Cowboys went on an 8-0 run to take a 19-point lead, 66-47. In fact, it would be nearly seven more minutes of game time before the Islanders would hit a field goal. It was a 15-2 run for the Pokes, with three free throws from the Islanders before a putback on the fourth snapped the streak.
The Cowboys are back in action this coming Wednesday as they play host to South Florida for a 7 p.m. tip.
