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Boggan, Oklahoma St. claim seventh straight win over Baylor

Jan 7, 2007 - 3:56 AM STILLWATER, Oklahoma (Ticker) -- Mario Boggan had no problem carrying his scoring binge over into conference play.

Boggan scored 15 of his 26 points in the first half as No. 12 Oklahoma State continued its dominance over Baylor with an 81-77 victory in the Big 12 Conference opener for both schools.

JamesOn Curry added 20 points for the Cowboys (15-1, 1-0 Big 12), who beat the Bears for the seventh straight time and the 20th in the last 22 encounters here.

"There are not going to be any easy games in this league," Oklahoma State coach Sean Sutton said. "I really think that, from top to bottom, it is the best that we have ever had in the Big 12. There are going to be a lot of great games all year long, but there are going to be a lot of close games throughout. You never take a win for granted."

Coming off a career-high 36 points in a 129-77 rout of Southwestern Oklahoma State on Tuesday, Boggan made 6-of-9 shots in the first half to lead his club to a 37-24 advantage at the break.

Boggan, who is averaging 24.3 points over his last eight games, added five more points in the opening 5:33 of the second half, extending the lead to 15 points on a jumper.

"We tried to guard him like everybody in the league tries to guard him," Baylor coach Scott Drew said. "He is a very experienced player. He can score in different ways. Not may people have answers for him."

Baylor (10-4, 0-1), however, refused to go away, closing within 73-69 on a layup by Curtis Jerrells with 38 seconds left. The basket capped a 15-7 run for the Bears, who got two 3-pointers from freshman guard Tweety Carter and one from Tim Bush during the burst.

"We got too relaxed because in the last few minutes they were able to hit a lot of 3-point shots," Boggan said. "But, when you are in situation like Baylor was in, you always try to hit a lot of threes. We should have put it away when we had the opportunity, but we just got too relaxed on defense."

Oklahoma State's Terrel Harris was fouled, splitting two free throws, but Boggan grabbed the rebound on the second, recovered from getting blocked down low and muscled in a layup to make it 76-69 with 32 ticks remaining.

Boggan finished 11-of-18 from the field and tied a career high with 13 rebounds for the Cowboys, who held a 43-32 advantage in boards and 36-26 edge in points in the paint.

As a duo, Boggan and Curry are averaging 40.8 points. That is the second-best average among two teammates in the nation. VMI's Reggie Williams and Chavis Holmes averaged a combined 46.8 points.

Harris, who was playing in his first game after a one-game suspension, scored 13 points off the bench and fellow sophomore center Kenny Cooper had eight points and 11 rebounds, including 10 offensive.

"He was a monster on the offensive glass and that is the way that we need him to play," Sutton said of the 6-10 Cooper. "I think his confidence just keeps going up and as his offense continues to develop, he has a chance to be a special player.

"He had 10 offensive rebounds. I am not sure the last time we had a guy get 10 offensive rebounds."

Oklahoma State finished with 17 offensive rebounds, converting them into 17 second-chance points.

Carter scored all 15 of his points in the second half and Kevin Rogers added 10 of 18 for the Bears, who had a four-game winning streak snapped despite shooting 58.6 percent (17-of-29) after intermission.

"In the second half, we shot the ball better and had nine forced turnovers," Carter said. "Unlike in the first half, we got good looks. It's something we have to work at."

The eighth-best team in the nation in field-goal percentage at 50.3 coming in, Baylor finished at 41.7 percent (25-of-60), including 5-of-16 from the arc.