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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) -- Eddie Sutton got his wish for Oklahoma
State's seven seniors.
Paced by center Fredrik Jonzen's 21 points and two clutch
3-pointers from Joe Adkins, the Cowboys broke open a close game in
the second half Sunday and beat Pepperdine 75-67 to advance to the
East Regional semifinals.
|  | | Fredrik Jonzen, who scored a game-high 21 points for Oklahoma State, powers to the basket. |
"I wanted so much to get to the Sweet 16 with this team because
those seniors have been a very special group," said Sutton, the
Cowboys coach whose last two appearances in the NCAA Tournament
ended with second-round losses to a top seed.
"I told them that I thought they were good enough to get there,
and when you get there anything can happen. It's down to 16
ballclubs."
Oklahoma State will face Seton Hall on Friday in Syracuse, N.Y.
The 10th-seeded Pirates beat second-seeded Temple 67-65 in
overtime.
Oklahoma State and Pepperdine were coming off 20-point victories
in the first round. The third-seeded Cowboys (26-6) beat
14th-seeded Hofstra 86-66 and No. 10 Pepperdine (25-9) defeated No.
6 Indiana 77-57.
This one was a fight for 30 minutes. The Waves, who press at
every turn, befuddled the Cowboys at the outset and built a 5-1
lead. Sutton had seen enough and called a timeout.
"When we came out, (the Waves) had great energy level and we
were down," said Cowboys point guard Doug Gottlieb, who finished
with nine assists and five points. "And Coach, instead of going
nuts like some coaches do, sat us down and said, 'Look, now let's
start playing. You obviously know they can play. Relax and play."'
And the Cowboys did. Jonzen's strong inside game -- he scored 12
of his points in the first half -- allowed them to take a 35-31 lead
at the break.
"We talked about that before the game, saying we had to get the
ball inside," said Jonzen, a native of Sweden who had 13 points and 11 rebounds
against Hofstra. "The high post was wide open. That was one of the
main keys -- getting the ball inside."
Still, the game was tied six times before Oklahoma State finally
came to life midway through the second half with the score 44-44.
And the Cowboys did it as the Waves struggled from long range.
Pepperdine stunned Indiana by hitting nine of 17 3-pointers. But
the Waves missed their first 10 of the second half Sunday, going
scoreless for four minutes. Pepperdine finished the game seven of 32
from 3-point range, while the Cowboys hit half of their 14 and shot
49.1 percent for the game.
"We were getting even better looks than we did against
Indiana," said Tezale Archie, who had 14 assists and seven points
but missed six 3-pointers. "We got all the looks we wanted. We
just didn't knock them down. A few of them were contested, but I
thought we did a real good job of kicking off to the next guy who
was open."
While the Waves were misfiring, the Cowboys pulled away with a
16-4 run. Adkins, who had 18 points, administered the crushing
blows, hitting two straight 3-pointers, the second from the right
corner boosting the lead to 65-50 with 3:25 left.
"He's done it in his four years here," Gottlieb said. "He got
the clutch award from Coach last year. Sometimes he comes out and
takes some wild shots, but when it comes to (crunch) time and we
need a bucket and he's open, it's going in."
By the time Brandon Armstrong hit two 3s and Archie hit another
to break the drought in the final two minutes, the Waves were too
far behind to regroup. They left with their heads high, even if
they didn't join West Coast Conference rival Gonzaga in the next
round.
"Everybody knows about Pepperdine now," Archie said. "When we
first got here there wasn't but two Pepperdine fans -- our athletic
director and his wife. By the end, half the building was chanting
for us. We made a statement. Hopefully, we can start a dynasty."
The Waves' defense worked well enough to hold Indiana
All-American A.J. Guyton to three points on 0-for-2 shooting in the
first round, and it worked pretty well against the Cowboys. Desmond
Mason, who had 30 points against Hofstra, had 13 against the Waves.
Armstrong led Pepperdine with 19 points and Nick Sheppard had
13.
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ALSO SEE
Mens College Basketball Scoreboard
Pepperdine NCAA Team Report
Oklahoma State NCAA Team Report
Chat: NCAA Tourney
Shine rises to the occasion
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