STILLWATER – Oklahoma State came out on top of a hard-fought battle against South Florida on Wednesday night as the Pokes they won 103-95.
With the win, the Cowboys moved to 5-0 on the season for the first time since the 2020-21 season.
Vyctorius Miller led the way in scoring for the Pokes as he went 7-of-11 from the field, 4-of-4 from 3-point range and 6-of-7 from the free throw line for 24 points.
Kanye Clary was the fifth Poke to score in double-figures with 12 points, but he finished with 11 assists for a double-double. He also had seven rebounds.
Both Christian Coleman and Anthony Roy finished with 15 points apiece, and Parsa Fallah with 14 points on a perfect 5-of-5 shooting from the floor and 6-7 from the free throw line.
The Cowboys shot nearly 60% from the floor, 50% from 3-point range and just 61% from the free throw line. They outrebounded the Bulls 37-35, including 26-21 on the defensive end. They did, however, turn the ball over 19 times, leading to 23 points on the other end. They outscored the Bulls 44-30 in the paint and tied 37-37 with bench points.
It was a rough first half for the Pokes as they trailed by 13 points with four minutes left to go in the game following a 3-pointer from Wes Enis, making it 44-31. The Cowboys would end the half on a 13-1 run over the last 3:59 of the half, seven points coming from Roy and six from Christian Coleman.
Going into the break, the Cowboys shot nearly 52% from the floor, nearly 37% from 3-point range, but just 50% from the free throw line at 8-of-16 shooting. They also turned the ball over 10 times, leading to 16 points on the other end.
The second half was a battle from the time the clock started running.
Just over the 13-minute mark, I. Coleman made a layup to start a 10-0 run and put the Pokes up 66-63. Just under the 13-minute mark, Clary drilled a huge 3-pointer from the wing after a travel by Omojafo to put the Pokes up 69-63. Enis missed a layup on the other end, leading to an emphatic fastbreak dunk by C. Coleman to put the Pokes up 71-63. The run was capped by a 3-pointer by Miller to put the Pokes up 74-63, their largest lead of the game. The run was ended by a big 3-pointer USF’s Jones on the other end, leading to the under-12 media timeout.
After going up by 11, the Cowboys allowed the Bulls back into the game as Jospeh Pinion hit a big corner three, followed CJ Brown hit a driving layup on a bad pass by Clary. I. Coleman fouled Enis, who hit two free throws to make it a three-point game, 76-73.
The Bulls went on a quick 6-0 run in a 20 second span, with Pinion drilling two 3-pointers from the same spot to make it a three-point game, 90-87, with just over five minutes left to play.
One minute later, Enis hit a layup to make it 92-89, which was answered by a 3-pointer by Roy. The Bulls hit two free throws over the next minute and a half, but the Cowboys held USF to a near-five-minute field goal drought for a 103-95 win.
