Feb. 21, 2000
Box Score
By R.B. FALLSTROM
AP Sports Writer
COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) - Take it from Quin Snyder: Oklahoma State is the class
of the Big 12.
Missouri has lost at home to the Big 12's top three teams this month, also
falling to Iowa State and Texas. The Tigers' rookie coach is most impressed
with the 10th-ranked Cowboys, who held off a late rally for a 84-72 victory
Monday night.
"They're the best team we've played this year," Snyder said. "People are
talking about Final Four and all that, and they're really good because they
defend you so well. They're terrific."
Missouri lost 72-62 to No. 17 Iowa State on Feb. 9 and 66-63 to No. 14 Texas
on Feb. 12.
Desmond Mason had 25 points and nine rebounds for Oklahoma State (22-3,
11-2), which leads the conference by a half-game over Texas and Iowa State. Joe
Adkins scored all but two of his 21 points in the second half, and Brian
Montonati had 16 points and 11 rebounds before fouling out with 3:43 to go.
The Cowboys also held Missouri to 34 percent shooting, its worst in
conference play.
"We came out in the second half, and for the first 13 or 14 minutes we
played as well as we could play," Oklahoma State coach Eddie Sutton said.
At least one Missouri player wasn't impressed. Clarence Gilbert felt that
way even though he was 1-for-11 with three points, 10 below his average.
"They're pretty good, but I don't think it's the best I've seen this
year," Gilbert said.
Gilbert's choice: "Texas. You couldn't penetrate."
Missouri (16-9, 9-4) couldn't score, period, for much of the game. Kareem
Rush, who averaged 25 points last week, was held to 13. Keyon Dooling led
Missouri with 19 points, but was 5-for-15.
The Tigers were seemingly out of it with eight minutes to go, trailing
61-41.
"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 then hit five 3-pointers the rest of the way, and trailed only
76-72 after Rush connected from long range with 51 seconds to go.
"Those guys can shoot the basketball," Sutton said. "There's no college
team in American that can beat them in a game of horse."
Oklahoma State escaped when Doug Gottlieb, who had 12 assists, answered that
basket by connecting on a court-length inbound pass to Mason for a dunk.
"When someone's pushing as hard as they were, we'll take that deep feed,"
Sutton said. "We've got a couple other plays that we didn't use, and maybe we
should have."
Adkins scored the game's final six points on four free throws, including two
after a technical called on Missouri after a fan threw a foam rubber finger on
the floor, and a dunk.
"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 made a game of it by hounding Oklahoma State into a season-high 24
turnovers. That couldn't prevent a third straight loss at home - the first time
that's happened since 1992-93. All of the games are against ranked opponents.
Sutton said beating Missouri on the road should improve Oklahoma State's
NCAA tournament seed. The Cowboys had been 2-26 at the Hearnes Center.
"We've been in the NCAA the last two years and you don't want to get an 8
or a 9 seed, which we've had," Sutton said. "It's important to win games like
this because the NCAA tournament committee will take a long look at it."
