MU Gets Close, But 6th-Ranked Cowboys Pull Away Late

The score was 78-68, but the Missouri Tigers’ loss to Oklahoma State, for the most part, was much closer than 10 points. Mizzou battled back and forth with the 6th ranked Cowboys, but OSU pulled away over the last five-and-a-half minutes to get the best of Missouri. MU led a couple of times in the second half, taking their last advantage at the 11:22 mark of the second half. Linas Kleiza’s jumper gave the Tigers a 52-51 lead. Kleiza finished with 24 points and was a perfect 13-of-13 from the free throw line. Mizzou, which has struggled from the charity stripe this season made 90 percent of their free throws on Tuesday. The Tigers were as close as two points with under 5:30 to go, but Oklahoma State pulled away late, outscoring Missouri 15-7 over the final 5:22 of the constest. Joey Graham led all scorers with 27 points. The biggest disparity, other than the score, came on the boards where MU was out-rebounded 33-23. MU is now 9-6 and 1-1 in the Big 12, while OSU improved to 12-1 and 2-0….The win gave OSU head coach Eddie Sutton his 767th victory, which moved him into 7th on the NCAA Division I wins list. He’s tied with Henry Iba, who was Sutton’s coach when he played at Oklahoma St.