Oklahoma State turned a tight exhibition into a runaway in the fourth quarter Monday night, pouring in 41 points to beat Puerto Rico Fuerza 120-92 at Guillermo Angulo Coliseum.
The Cowboys are now 2-0 on their foreign tour after beating PRF again in a little more than 24 hours. For three quarters, the game tracked a lot like Sunday night’s 94-88 OSU win: the Cowboys were in control, but the gap never quite felt safe. That changed fast once the fourth quarter opened.
Oklahoma State led 79-71 entering the final 10 minutes, then blew the game open by outscoring PRF 41-21 while hitting 17 of 25 shots and 5 of 9 from 3-point range. Freshman guard Parker Robinson did a lot of the damage, scoring 10 of his team-high 18 points in that stretch.
Latrell Allmond followed up a scoreless debut with a much louder second outing. The freshman finished with 17 points and a team-high seven rebounds, giving the Cowboys another punch in a game where the reserves were a major factor. All 14 players scored, and the bench accounted for 91 of OSU’s 120 points.
Sophomores Ryan Crotty, Mekhi Ragland and Jacob Walker also reached double figures. Crotty had 12 points and knocked down four of seven shots from deep, Ragland added 12, and Walker finished with 11.
The numbers around the basket told the rest of the story. Oklahoma State shot 55.4% from the field, made 16 of 18 free throws and owned a 51-25 rebounding edge. The Cowboys grabbed 19 offensive boards in 39 chances and turned that into a 28-4 advantage in second-chance points.
Even with a 34-19 foul disparity working against them, the Cowboys kept piling on. PRF attempted 37 free throws to OSU’s 18, though the hosts missed 10 of those chances.
Oklahoma State opened the game by scoring the final six points of the first quarter to go up 24-20, then kept the lead the rest of the way. Crotty hit two 3-pointers early in the second quarter, and Allmond hammered home a driving dunk during a 14-3 run that pushed the margin to 44-26 with 5:29 left in the half.
PRF answered by holding the Cowboys to one field goal the rest of the period and closing on a 15-6 spurt to trim the deficit to 50-41 at halftime.
The home team made another push in the third quarter, cutting the lead to four at 67-63 with four minutes left. Allmond stopped that momentum with a 3-pointer, then came up with a 50-50 ball and finished the sequence with a transition layup.
From there, the fourth quarter belonged entirely to Oklahoma State. The Cowboys scored on all but three possessions in the period, starting with a 17-4 burst. Andrija Grbovic scored seven points in that run with a 3-pointer and two tip-ins, and Anthony Felesi finished it with an acrobatic tip dunk that made it 96-75 with 6:24 remaining.
Oklahoma State reached 100 points with 5:16 left and kept stretching the margin, eventually leading by as many as 30 in the final minute.
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Among the players with the most at stake is a former Oklahoma left tackle from Edmond and Deer Creek, who needs to win a starting spot while staying healthy in his final college season. On defense, Johnson is trying to turn a handful of starts into a full-time edge role for Skyler Cassity, while Romney enters camp as the projected linebacker starter with a challenge waiting behind him. There is also a player with a well-known family around the program, which only adds to the expectations as workouts ramp up. [Read more 🡒]
Oklahoma State Still Has One Massive Week 1 Problem To Solve
Oklahoma State is heading into fall workouts with plenty still unsettled before the season opener against Tulsa, and that makes this week a big one for Eric Morris and his staff. The Cowboys are trying to sort out a depth chart on defense, at running back and along the offensive line, with transfers and returning players all pushing for roles as the new regime tries to get a clean read on the roster.
One of the more delicate pieces of that puzzle sits on offense, where the staff is still trying to determine how much stability it can count on up front and who will emerge behind the top options at running back. Jakobe Sanders is part of the broader conversation as well, and his situation adds another layer to a position group already dealing with uncertainty, which is exactly the kind of issue Oklahoma State would prefer to settle before the opener arrives. [Read more 🡒]