OSU Comes Up Short Despite Second Half Push

For the second game in a row a slow start doomed the Oklahoma State Cowboys Wednesday night as they fell to Alabama 69-52.

The Cowboys slow start mixed with much improved shooting from the Crimson Tide even though they were without top scorer JaMychal Green who is out with a right shoulder injury.

Alabama made 4-of-5 early three pointers early in the game to lead 21-4.

The Cowboys failed time and time again to produce any kind of offense. Combined, Markel Brown, Keiton Page, Brian Williams and Cezar Guerrero went 0-11 from the field in the first half.

Le'Bryan Nash got thing started and scored 11 points straight for the Cowboys to cut the lead to 35-20.

At the break, Alabama led 40-22 after shooting 57.1 percent from the field and 66.7 percent from three-point range compared to the Cowboys 29 percent field goal mark and 16.7 percent from behind the arc.

Oklahoma State made a run for a comeback in the second by cutting the lead to 10 and holding the Tide to 16.7 shooting from three point in the second, but their second half push would come up short.

With just over 11 minutes to play OSU went on a 7-0 run and would get as close as 10 points, but Alabama refused to back down.

In the final 30 minutes of the game, both teams scored 48 points, but it was the first half that made the difference with the Crimson Tide out scoring OSU 21-4 that made the difference.

Oklahoma State finished with 32 percent shooting from the field and 20 percent from the arc while Alabama tallied 46 percent from the field and the three-point line on the game.

Le'Bryan Nash led the Cowboys with 17 points and four rebounds while Jean-Paul Olukemi came off the bench to score 12 and pull down six boards.

Alabama was paced by Trevor Releford who scored 19 points, six rebounds and swiped four steals. Toni Mitchell added a double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds while Trevor Lacey scored 12.

The Crimson Tide was ranked as high as No. 12 in the AP poll this season, but fell out of the top 25 after Saturday's loss to Kansas State.

OSU falls to 6-5 on the season and will look to get back on track after Christmas break when they take on SMU in Dallas on Dec. 28 at 5:30 p.m.