Phil Forte scored 23 points and Marcus Smart playing in his last home game added 18 as Oklahoma State used a late first half run to surge ahead and never look back in a 77-61 victory over Kansas State Monday night in Stillwater.
After Shane Southwell’s three-point basket gave the Wildcats a 22-15 lead with 9:38 left in the first half, the Cowboys outscored K-State 20-5 the rest of the way and led 35-27 at intermission. Oklahoma State was aided by frequent trips to the charity stripe where they sank 15 of 17 free throw attempts. After the Wildcats scored the first five points of the second half to cut the deficit to three points, the Pokes went on a 15-7 run to lead 50-39 with 11:42 remaining.
K-State would shave OSU’s lead down to 60-53 with 5:38 left in the second half but the Cowboys urged on by the Senior Night crowd went on yet another run to put the game away and pick up their 20th win of the season and send K-State to its seventh loss in nine Big 12 road games.
Pacing the Wildcats with 10 points apiece were Thomas Gipson and Wesley Iwundu while Markel Brown also playing his last game at Gallagher-Iba Arena tossed in 15 points and Le’Bryan Nash poured in 13 to give the Cowboys four players in double figures.
Kansas State (20-10, 10-7) will finish up the 2013-14 on Saturday when they host Baylor for Senior Day at Bramlage Coliseum. Tip-off is set for 12:30 p.m.
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