Cowboys Get Win In Front Of Eddie Sutton

STILLWATER – The Sean Sutton era began with a victory Friday night in front of Eddie Sutton, who sat across from his son at mid-court just hours after being released from the hospital. The Cowboys struggled throughout the game before rallying in the second half to defeat Pittsburg (Kans.) State 84-67 in an exhibition game at Gallagher-Iba Arena. It was Sean Sutton's first game as OSU's head coach.

Sean Sutton began his postgame news conference by talking about his dad. “I spoke to the physician who attended to him and he said he felt like my dad had an allergic reaction to medicine that he had just started taking last night. He was at the hospital for a couple hours. It was good to see him at the game tonight. He seems to be feeling a lot better and doing well.”

The Cowboys were not impressive in their opener, and Sean Sutton says he saw some areas that the team will concentrate on in practice before playing Oklahoma Baptist University in the second exhibition game of the year on Tuesday night.

“We did some things well, but we did not sustain our effort defensively and certainly rebounding was a problem tonight,” the Cowboy head coach said. “You cannot give up 14 offensive rebounds. They’re a solid team, but I thought they were tougher and more aggressive and got more of the 50-50 balls that could have gone either way. That and defensive breakdowns gave us the biggest problems.”

One area that Sutton has to be pleased with is the play of senior Mario Boggan, who led the Cowboys with 33 points and nine rebounds. The 6-7 Boggan was 14 of 22 from the field, and got OSU back in the game after falling behind five points in the first half.

The Cowboys led 21-14 with 12:43 remaining in the first half but then Pittsburg State went on a 12-0 run over the next six minutes to go up by five. Boggan’s free throw ended the Cowboys’ six-minute scoring drought, and his basket seconds later made it 26-24. He then fed Marcus Dove for a game-tying basket.

Boggan had 15 points in the first half and added another 18 in the final 20 minutes of play as the Cowboys took control. OSU led by as many as 19 in the second half when Boggan converted a traditional three-point play with 9:38 remaining for a 62-43 lead.

“I think he is probably the overall best offensive player we have on this team," Sutton said. "I think he can do so many things. You can utilize him in so many situations. He is a very tough matchup for people because he can score with his back to the basket, he’s a very good perimeter jump shooter, he’s got a solid mid-range game, and he’s pretty athletic. Obviously, the more we can get him the ball the more we’d like to do that because he creates problems.”

When asked to give his team a grade in their first exhibition game Sutton said, “Off the top of my head, without watching film, I would say, just a guess, C-minus, or D-plus,” Sean Sutton said.