Freshman point guard Cade Cunningham scored a team-high 18 points to lead Oklahoma State to an 84-71 victory over Oakland on Saturday night in Stillwater, Okla.
Cunningham, last year's national high school player of the year, also recorded eight assists, two steals and four rebounds for the Cowboys (4-0).
Isaac Likekele added 16 points and seven rebounds for OSU while Kalib Boone scored 13 points.
Rashad Williams of Oakland (0-6) led all scorers with 32 points -- 30 of which came on 3-point shots. Teammate Jalen Moore added 13.
Just as they did in a win against highly acclaimed Marquette earlier in the week, the Cowboys started off slowly against Oakland -- they trailed 14-7 after the first 5 minutes as the Golden Grizzlies found their range from 3-point range. OSU battled back to tie things at 16-16 five minutes later.
But Oakland didn't buckle as it kept hitting 3s and went back up, maintaining slim leads until Bryce William scored on a layup with 26 second to go in the half to give the Cowboys a 37-36 lead at the intermission.
Likekele led OSU with 12 points in the half. Rashad Williams had 12 for Oakland -- all of which came on 3-point shots.
Cunningham didn't hit a shot until the 6:40 mark of the half. He finished the first 20 minutes with 6 points on 2 of 4 shooting from the floor.
The second half started like the first -- with the Grizzlies hitting 3s. With Moore hitting three 3-pointers and Williams one in the first two minutes, Oakland went up 50-47.
Things stayed close until the final eight minutes when the Cowboys, led by Cunningham's points and assists began pulling away before putting it away.
--Field Level Media
Oakland | Oklahoma State | |
Rashad Williams 32 | Scoring | Cade Cunningham 18 |
Jalen Moore 8 | Assists | Cade Cunningham 8 |
Daniel Oladapo 8 | Rebounds | Kalib Boone 7 |
Jalen Moore 2 | Free Throws Made | Kalib Boone 3 |
Jalen Moore 2 | Steals | Kalib Boone 4 |
N/A | Blocks | Cade Cunningham 1 |
Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
Oakland | 71 | 38.7 | 17-37 | 6-13 | 15 | 26 | 0 | 10 | 17 |
Oklahoma State | 84 | 52.5 | 10-26 | 10-14 | 22 | 36 | 4 | 9 | 17 |