Early Second Half Surge Moves Oklahoma State Past TSU

STILLWATER, Okla. – Oklahoma State opened the second half with a 19-5 scoring surge and never looked back as Texas Southern fell to the Cowboys by an 85-65 margin Saturday night.

The contest started out evenly for both teams as OSU led 16-14 at the 13:05 mark but the Cowboys tried to pull away as they outscored the Tigers 11-3 over the next six minutes for a 27-17 lead. TSU’s Galen Alexander ended the drought with a basket to cut the deficit to single digits which began a TSU surge that saw the Tigers draw to within 29-24 after Alexander’s three-pointer with 5:49 remaining. However, OSU countered with a 10-4 run to move ahead 39-28 before TSU’s John Walker III hit a basket to cut OSU’s lead back to nine with 2:21 left in the half. That would be the final shot of the half for TSU as OSU added a pair of free throws with 25 seconds left for a 41-30 lead.

TSU senior Michael Weathers, who spent two seasons at Oklahoma State before transferring to Texas Southern last fall, opened the second half with a jumper to get back within nine (41-32). Unfortunately, TSU would miss its next five shot attempts and by the time Weathers would connect on a layup nearly two minutes later, OSU was up by 15. The Cowboys drained a three-pointer on the ensuing possession to move up by 18 (52-34) and eventually took its largest lead of the night at the 13:23 mark after an Avery Anderson three-point play which capped off a 19-5 run. From that point, the Tigers couldn’t make up enough ground as OSU won for the third time in series history.

Alexander scored a TSU-high 22 points along with two steals and a block. Weathers followed with 13 points and seven boards on 6-of-9 shooting while Walker III scored 11. Karl Nicholas finished a rebound shy of double-double with 10 points and nine rebounds.

TSU is back in action Monday night in Laramie, Wyo. as they’ll face Wyoming at 8 p.m.