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Oklahoma St. tops Iowa St. after sluggish first half

Jan 28, 2007 - 5:12 AM STILLWATER, Oklahoma (Ticker) -- Oklahoma State coach Sean Sutton was grateful his team had 20 minutes to redeem itself.

Terrel Harris scored 21 points and Mario Boggan added 17 for No. 16 Oklahoma State, which overcame its worst first half of the campaign to post a 62-50 victory over Iowa State in a Big 12 Conference contest.

The Cowboys (18-3, 4-2 Big 12) won for the seventh time in nine contests overall and extended their winning streak here over the Cyclones to 14 games dating to March 2, 1988.

Despite shooting 33 percent (10-of-30) from the floor in the first half, Iowa State jumped to a 13-4 lead in the first eight minutes. Wesley Johnson scored six points and Dodie Dunson hit a 3-pointer for the Cyclones.

"I felt that if we executed our game plan for 40 minutes, we could get to the last five minutes and have a chance to win," Iowa State coach Greg McDermott said. "I think that's all you could expect coming into a place like this."

Harris did his best to single-handedly bring Oklahoma State back by scoring 11 consecutive points for the Cowboys, who set a season low for points in a half and shot 28.6 percent (6-of-21) to trail, 23-17, at the break.

"In the first half, we played about as poorly on the offensive end as we have all season long," Sutton said. "I thought we took some horrendous shots in the first half and we did not go at them inside.

"Iowa State had a good game plan. They slowed the game down and made it a very methodical game. They worked the shot clock and spread us out."

Oklahoma State came alive after by hitting six of its first 10 shots of the second half in a 12-0 run to take a 29-23 lead. Boggan scored six points and JamesOn Curry had four in the burst.

"With Harris being our only scorer in the first half, Coach told us to give a better effort," Boggan said. "We just tried to go out and play better on the defensive end. Once we played better defense, everything fell into place and we started clicking on the offensive end."

"In the second half, I thought we showed a lot more energy," Sutton said. "We got the ball down the court and scored some baskets in transition, and we were able to get the ball inside to (Boggan)."

Mike Taylor nailed back-to-back 3-pointers midway through the second half to bring Iowa State within 40-36. However, Harris hit a basket from the arc to ignite a 16-5 spurt that gave Oklahoma State a 56-41 lead with 1:10 remaining.

"Basically, I just let the game come to me," Harris said. "I tried to get some energy off the defensive end, and that was where I got into rhythm. Once my offensive game got rolling, I just kept feeling it when I was shooting."

Harris made 7-of-9 shots, including three 3-pointers, and Curry scored 14 points for the Cowboys, who shot 59.2 percent (16-of-27) in the second half.

"(Winning at home) is very important to us," Curry said. "We decided at the beginning of the season that we had to improve on that. We do not want to let anyone beat us at home. I think so far we have done a good job."

"Our focus was on Curry and Boggan," Iowa State forward Rashon Clark said. "We thought if we took them away, then we would have the game close like we did. Harris came out and played really well."

Taylor scored 13 points, Dunson added 11 and Johnson grabbed 10 rebounds for Iowa State (11-9, 2-4), which lost its fourth straight game.

Despite being outrebounded, 39-32, Oklahoma State outscored the Cyclones, 45-27 in the second half and limited them to 32 percent (19-of-59) shooting for the game.

"They came out and picked up their defense," Johnson said. "In the first half, we had them and in the second, they just came out more aggressive. We were told they would come out aggressive but we weren't ready for it."