Box Score
STILLWATER, Okla. _ A steady parade to the free throw line in the second half carried the Oklahoma State Cowboys to a 69-57 victory over the University of Central Arkansas Bears on Wednesday night at Gallagher-Iba Arena.
After not making a free throw in the first half (0 for 1), the Cowboys (6-1) converted 18 in the second half, including 15 in the final 4:30, to hold the Bears at bay. For the game, OSU was 18 of 26 from the line and won despite hitting only 1 of 12 from three-point range and turning the ball over 19 times.
OSU junior guard Keiton Page scored a team-high 17 points, hitting 10 of 10 from the line. All 10 of those came in the final four minutes as the Bears were trying to make up as much as a 15-point deficit.
“We knew we didn’t want to put them on the free throw line,’ said UCA head coach Corliss Williamson. “We did a good job of that in the first half but we kind of relaxed on defense a little in the second half and started reaching and fouling. We sure didn’t want to foul Page, but we did and he made us pay.’
The game, which was only six points at halftime, got away from the Bears (2-4) midway through the second half as the Cowboys went on a 13-5 scoring run and took their biggest lead of the game to that point, 12 points, with 8:15 remaining. But UCA freshman guard Ryan Williams nailed consecutive three-pointers from the right wing to bring the Bears back within six at 52-46 with 5:42 left, forcing an OSU timeout.
“Ryan has done that a couple of times for us this year,’ Williamson said. “He’s a kid who’s demeanor is really calm, he doesn’t go up and down with the game. He just plays the game. He’s hit some big shots this year.
“I kind of got a little frustrated there, I thought we probably should have gone to him some more after he hit those two. That’s something we have to work on as a team. When we have a hot one, we have to figure out as a team how we’re going to get him the ball.’
After play resumed, the Cowboys responded with three free throws and a length-of-the-court layup by Page to push the lead back to 11 at 57-46 with 4:02 to play. Page made four consecutive free throws, 10 straight points in all, to give OSU a 61-46 lead with 2:37 left. Henson made a long three-pointer and made a free throw but Page made two more at the line to keep the lead at 13.
UCA got to within nine points once more on TK Smith’s three-pointer with 37.7 seconds to play.
“You let a good team like Oklahoma State off the ropes and they get back into the game, it’s tough to overcome that,’ said Williamson. “Coach (Travis) Ford has his team very prepared and ready to play. They are very disciplined in what they do and they handled their business and did what they were supposed to do in the second half.’
The Bears stayed even with the Cowboys for the first nine minutes of the first half and trailed only 17-16 after junior Mark Rutledge hit a three-pointer from the right wing with 5:50 left in the half. The Bears then had to survive an 8-0 Cowboy run late in the first half that put them behind 25-16 with 3:30 remaining.
UCA answered that with a 5-0 run of its own as junior forward Tadre Sheppard put in a rebound and junior guard Dewan Clayborn followed with a three-point play on a drive and free throw that closed the gap to 25-21 with 2:37 left.
The Bears then turned in back-to-back defensive plays as Sheppard blocked a fastbreak layup attempt and senior center Carlos Dos Santos took a charge for the Bears. The Cowboys got an inside basket by Markel Brown and he was fouled. He missed his free throw attempt by Darrell Williams put in the rebound for a 29-21 lead heading into the final minute.
Junior forward Chris Henson scored in the lane for UCA and the Bears’ defense stopped the Cowboys on consecutive shots in the final seconds to go to the locker room down 29-23.
Henson led the Bears with 13 points and Rutledge added 10. UCA shot 34.5 percent from the field and 73.3 percent from the line. The Cowboys outrebounded the Bears 48-26, with Darrell Williams getting 13 and Marshall Moses pulling down 11. Jean-Paul Olukemi added 15 points and Moses 11 for the Cowboys.
“They were just much more physical than we were,’ said Williamson. “They have some big bodies, guys who are strong, know how to use their bodies. They were very aggressive down inside and they hurt us. That was one of the concerns we had coming into the game, and unfortunately for us, it came true.
“They beat us 48- 26 on the boards and they scored 38 points in the paint to our 14. Anytime you have those type of numbers, it’s going to be tough to win.’
UCA plays at Missouri State on Saturday in Springfield, Mo.
