Published: January 03, 2009 08:39 pm         

O-State improves to 10-3 with win against Demons

In the early stages of Saturday’s matinee inside Gallagher-Iba Arena, with the contest still in doubt, Oklahoma State point guard Byron Eaton dribbled across the timeline, and no more than five steps onto the Cowboy side of the court, slung a pass inside to Anthony Brown.

On its way there, the ball traveled past three Northwestern State players and into the waiting — and unsuspecting — hands of Brown. The power forward kissed ball off the glass as OSU started to pull away from the Demons.

Only seconds later, the sturdy guard found Brown under the basket again. This time, Eaton threw a no-look pass to his fellow senior, while cutting through the lane himself and the Cowboys were on their way to a 122-73 victory.

“I’ve been telling everyone, when you go to the goal get your hands up,” Eaton said. “You might get hit in the head if you don’t get your hands up.”

Eaton didn’t manage a whole lot after that point — only scoring six points and dishing out six assists — but he didn’t have to as the rest of the Cowboys took control, while Eaton spent most of the first half on the bench in semi-foul trouble.

“Byron’s game, it can get lost in what everybody else did,” coach Travis Ford said. “Byron does much better when he’s playing more minutes.”

The Cowboys (10-3) had four scorers finish with more than 20 points and five finished in double figures including a career-high 11 from sophomore guard Nick Sidorakis.

“Coach Ford, his offense, we do it every day in practice,” guard Obi Muonelo said. “It didn’t surprise us, but when you see that many points scored, you wonder, ‘Are we really doing it at this rate?’”

James Anderson finished with 27, Terrel Harris had 23, Muonelo chipped in with 22 and freshman Keiton Page added 21, but didn’t attempt a shot from inside the three-point line.

“I love that especially when I have six assists, especially when I should have had more,” Eaton said. “Points will come, I can get points anytime.”

Oklahoma State had been taking massive, early leads against its opponents, but Northwestern State (8-7) matched the Cowboys shot for shot. Every time down the court in the early minutes seemed to produce points.

“It got off to a pretty interesting start and both teams couldn’t miss,” Ford said. “I was happy about how we responded out of the gates when things didn’t go our way.”

With the game tied at 21, the Cowboys strung together a run that put them up 42-29 and finally 66-39 at halftime. It only took 58 seconds of the second half for the Cowboys to take a 30-point lead but from then on, OSU never led by fewer.

“Our coach’s swagger is rubbing off on us,” Harris said. “The more we win, the more confidence we get and the more comfortable we get with the offense and this system. You have to play with an extreme amount on confidence in this system.”

The Cowboys eclipsed the 100-point mark with slightly more than seven minutes remaining in the game and a few moments later, Ford showed some of that swagger when he and Northwestern State coach Mike McConathy exchanged heated words at mid-court.

“To be perfectly honest, I didn’t know what was going on,” Ford said. “I still don’t know exactly what was happening. Those things happen in competitive athletics.”

The Demons had already had two players foul out of the contest, and multiple times, knocked Harris and Anderson to the floor with intentional fouls.

“(Ford)’s a tough guy,” Muonelo said. “Everybody knows, when you see him or you think about him, you know he’s tough. They had a couple of late blows that he felt as unprofessional.”

The two coaches had a second confrontation after the contest.

As a finishing measure, Eaton threw up and alley-oop to Anderson from behind the three-point arc and just before soaking up his last minutes in the game, he stole the ball and went coast-to-coast before dropping a behind-the-back pass to Harris for an easy lay-in.

“We are going to go as Byron goes,” Ford said. “Byron did enough (Saturday).”



Notables...

After playing only three minutes on Saturday, forward Marshall Moses fouled out of the game … Muonelo picked up another double-double, pulling down 12 rebounds to go along with his 22 points … Anderson went 9-for-9 from the free throw line, continuing his hot start from the charity stripe … The Demons were held basketless for the first 5:58 of the second half.

     

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