Cowboys' Second Half Surge Leads to Win Over Southern Illinois

Oklahoma State's men's basketball team went on a 15-4 run to take charge of the game and beat Southern Illinois 85-78 at Gallagher-Iba Arena in Stillwater on Thursday night.

OSU was outshot and outrebounded by the Salukis, but force 18 SIU turnovers that led to 30 Cowboy points.

Both Abou Ousmane and Brandon Newman had 18 points to lead the Cowboys.

Newman made three 3-pointers, as did Marchelus Avery, who finished with 11 points.

Bryce Thompson added 10 points and hit a pair of three-pointers.

OSU led 38-37 at halftime, and were outshot by SIU 51 percent to 48 percent from the field, and outrebounded 36-33.

The Cowboys had lost to the Salukis in each of the last two seasons.

OSU led by as many as 18 points before SIU made it interesting in the final couple of minutes.

OSU improves to 3-0 on the season, and will next play in a tournament in Charleston, South Carolina, facing Florida Atlantic next Thursday at 1:30 pm.