No. 6 Cowboys Roll, Cobbins Injured

It was business as usual for No. 6 Oklahoma State as the Cowboys wrapped up the nonconference portion of their schedule with a lopsided victory against Robert Morris on Monday.

It didn't take the Pokes long to shake off nine days of rust, as a barrage of 3-pointers and their overwhelming athleticism helped the Cowboys pull away for a convincing 92-66 victory.

This one was never in doubt, as the Cowboys rode Phil Forte and Markel Brown to win No. 12 on the season and a 7-0 start at home, dispatching a pesky Robert Morris squad that stuck around but could never quite counter OSU's superior athletic ability and depth.

Forte came off the bench to score a game-high 20 points on 5-of-8 shooting from 3-point range, while Brown anchored the starting lineup with 18 points, several of which came off of jaw-dropping alley oops, to go with three assists and three rebounds.

Brian Williams and Kamari Murphy also reached double figures with 12 and 10 points, respectively, while Marcus Smart was quiet on the scoring front with seven points on 3-of-5 shooting but dished out eight assists in 19 minutes.

Stevie Clark also turned in a well-rounded performance with nine points and nine assists off the bench, as Oklahoma State wrapped up nonconference play with a 12-1 record and its highest rank in the polls since 2005 heading into Big 12 play on Saturday against Kansas State.

But for all of the good that came out of this victory, there will be one major negative story line to follow in the coming days.

Starting center Michael Cobbins played just three minutes before suffering an apparent Achilles injury; the severity of the injury is unknown at this time but coach Travis Ford said what he knows so far is, "not good."

The potential of a serious injury to Cobbins certainly takes a good deal of the wind out of the sails of this predictable victory, but the Colonials (5-9) were a solid foe and are perhaps best known for knocking Kentucky out of the NIT last season.

Oklahoma State once again used its defense to kick start everything else, limiting Robert Morris to just 36 percent shooting and outrebounding the Colonials 40-30 even without Cobbins in the lineup.

OSU shot 57 percent from the floor and 47.4 percent from 3 (9-of-19) and also dished out a whopping 27 assists – the most assists in a game for the Cowboys since 2000 – against just 12 turnovers in a game where nearly every person on the roster played significant minutes.

Oklahoma State raced out to a quick 9-0 lead and never trailed, at one point leading by as many as 30 points late in the second half.

The Cowboys will try to keep their five-game winning streak alive on Saturday when they open conference play in Manhattan, Kan., against Kansas State (9-3) at 3 p.m.