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BOX SCORE
COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) -- Oklahoma State stepped shakily into the Big 12 lead.
Desmond Mason had 25 points and nine rebounds, but the Cowboys (No. 9 ESPN/USA Today, No. 10 AP) had to hold off a furious late rally by Missouri for an 84-72 victory Monday night.
"We seem to do things the hard way all the time," Mason said.
"We have to get that killer instinct because in the NCAA
Tournament, everybody's good.
"We have to go out there and put people away early and show we
mean business."
|  | | Missouri's Keyon Dooling, left, Clarence Gilbert, right, and Brian Grawer surround Oklahoma State's Glendon Alexander. |
The Cowboys seemingly pulled away by hitting 10 of their first
12 shots after the break. It was 61-41 with eight minutes to go.
"You look up in the stands and people are leaving, packing
their bags and going home," Missouri guard Brian Grawer said.
"It's easy just to fold."
The gap was still 14 when the Cowboys had a shot clock violation
with 2:30 to go.
Missouri hit five 3-pointers the rest of the way, and trailed by
only four at 76-72 after Kareem Rush connected with 51 seconds to
go. Oklahoma State escaped when Mason answered with a dunk after a
length-of-court pass from Doug Gottlieb and scored the game's final
seven points.
"Missouri hit a couple of treys and it was contagious,"
Oklahoma State coach Eddie Sutton said. "Those guys can shoot the
basketball.
"There's no college team in American that can beat them in a
game of horse."
Brian Montonati added 16 points and 11 rebounds and Gottlieb had
12 assists for the Cowboys (22-3, 11-2 Big 12), who have won eight
of nine. Oklahoma State, which leads the Big 12 by a half-game over
Iowa State and Texas, overcame a season-high 24 turnovers.
Keyon Dooling had 19 points for Missouri (16-9, 9-4). The Tigers
have lost three in a row at home for the first time since 1992-93,
with all the games against ranked opponents.
"They're a great team," Missouri coach Quin Snyder said.
"There's not a lot of mystery what happened."
Oklahoma State, which also got 21 points from Joe Adkins and 12
from Glendon Alexander, was 2-26 at the Hearnes Center.
The Big 12's top defense stifled the Tigers until the late
going. Missouri began 1-for-13 and shot 34 percent overall, their
worst showing in conference play.
"We take great pride in our defense," Montonati said. "Our
perimeter guys are outstanding guarding the 3-point shots. It was a
big key in the game."
Rush, who averaged 25 points last week, was held to 13. Gilbert,
averaging 13 points, missed his first eight shots and finished
1-for-11 with three points.
"That's going to happen," Grawer said. "The unfortunate thing
is it happened to more than one or two individuals on the team."
Mason hit a 3-pointer just before the halftime buzzer for a
28-23 lead and had two more baskets in the opening 1:33 of the
second half to help Oklahoma State open the gap. Alexander's
3-pointer gave Oklahoma State 10 baskets in 12 shots to start the
half and a 54-37 lead with 11:18 to play.
Oklahoma State had a surprisingly tough time in the first half
considering Missouri's horrid start. The Cowboys shot 48 percent,
held Missouri to 28 percent shooting and had a 19-11 rebounding
advantage, but hurt themselves with 13 turnovers.
Missouri didn't make a conventional basket until Pat Schumacher
made a layup with 8:28 to go in the half, but shot 50 percent the
last 10 minutes to get back in.
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ALSO SEE
Mens College Basketball Scoreboard
Oklahoma State Clubhouse
Missouri Clubhouse
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Desmond Mason makes the steal and takes it to the rack.
avi: 592 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Desmond Mason gets the hoop and the foul off the inbound pass.
avi: 574 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Keyon Dooling takes a commuter flight along the baseline.
avi: 523 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
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