STILLWATER, Okla.?Oklahoma State got a career-high 27 points from Mario Boggans and shot a whopping 65.3 percent form the floor as a team as the Cowboys easily handled the Indians of Arkansas State, 84-64 on New Year's Eve.
The Indians (5-9) were one again short-handed and played two players nursing injuries. But Lorenzo Hampton stepped in to make his first career start for the Tribe and made it count by scoring 17 points on the night. Jim Jones led all ASU scorers with 19.
ASU never led in the game against OSU (9-4) despite a decent shooting performance and battling the Cowboys evenly in most statistical categories. But the one category that cost the Indians dearly on the night was field goal percentage allowed, especially in the second half.
Boggans paced a torrid shooting night by the Cowboys, connecting on 11 of 14 shot attempts in his career performance. JamesOn Curry had a quiet 19 on 7 of 10 shooting while Kenny Cooper and Terrel Harris added 11 each.
The Indians trailed by 11 at the end of the first half but hung tough by shooting 50 percent from the floor. But that is when the Cowboys stepped up their game a little more.
OSU stretched the lead to 21 in the first 7:32 of the second half while not missing a field goal during that stretch. In fact the Cowboys' first miss didn't come until Curry's open jumper from 16 rimmed out with 7:23 left in the second half. OSU still managed to connect on 13 of the first 15 field goal attempts in the half before cooling off in the waning minutes. The Cowboys still shot 72.7 percent from the floor in the second half, however.
ASU did manage to close in on OSU in the first half when, trailing 12-4 at the 14:43 mark, the Indians went on a quick 8-4 run to slice the lead to four at 16-12., keyed by Witherspoon's two buckets and an Isaac Wells floater.
But the game quickly out of hand afterwards as the Cowboys marched out to a double figure lead and kept it there most of the game. OSU led by as many as 17 in the first half before settling on the 39-28 score at the break.
ASU was without the services of Brandon Ballard, who injured his shoulder diving for a ball against Arkansas-Pine Bluff on the 28th. Tipler is still limited by knee problems and Witherspoon's back limited him to just 18 minutes. With Jerry Nichols out for the season with a knee injury, the Indians have been short-handed for the last several games while attempting to get everyone healthy at the same time.
The Indians finally begin Sun Belt Conference action when the Hilltoppers of Bowling Green invade the Convocation Center at 7:05 p.m. on Jan. 5. The Indians will then play four straight road conference games before returning to Jonesboro on Jan. 19.
