LAS VEGAS -Sophomore forward Taylor Brown (Atlanta, Ga./Dunwoody H.S.) tallied a career scoring high for the third consecutive game by pumping in a game-high 21 points, but he was the only Bradley player to reach double-figures as Oklahoma State (5-0) earned a 68-57 victory against the Braves (3-2) in the third round of the HoopTV Las Vegas Invitational Friday night at the Orleans Arena.
While Oklahoma State advances to the championship game of the 2009 HoopTV Las Vegas Invitational to face the winner of Friday's final game between Illinois and Utah, Bradley will take on the loser of the Illini/Utes game in Saturday's 5 p.m. (PST) consolation game. The loss ends Bradley's three-game overall winning streak and four-game regular-season tournament winning streak. It also ended Bradley's three-game winning streak versus Big 12 Conference opponents and evened the all-time series against Oklahoma State at 9-9.
Oklahoma State put three players in double-figures, led by James Anderson's 19 points. Point guard Ray Penn added 14, including a late 3-pointer to put the game away, and Keiton Page chipped in with 10.
Bradley started strong and took a 10-5 lead on an Eddren McCain free throw with 15:26 left in the first half, but the Cowboys countered with a 10-0 run to take the lead for good. Roger Franklin started the run with a second-chance basket with 14:56 left and Anderson gave OSU the lead, 11-10, by making two free throws with 13:05 left in the half.
Both teams shot just 40 percent in the first half and Oklahoma State took a 33-24 lead into the intermission.
The Cowboys stretched their lead to as many as 20 points, 52-32, with 11:25 remaining before Bradley put together a run to make the final minutes interesting. After Brown made two free throws to start the run, the Braves benefitted from a rare 5-point play to slice the deficit to 52-39 with 9:46 left. The play started with Brown sinking his first 3-pointer of the season, but as the shot was going up, Franklin was called for a foul against screener Sam Singh. With the Braves in the bonus, Singh made both ends of the resulting 1-and-1 free throw situation.
The Braves eventually pulled to within eight points, 57-49, when sophomore center Will Egolf split two free throws with 5:15 remaining. Too many missed free throws and layups, however, prevented the Braves from completing the rally. Bradley made just 14-of-24 (.583) free throw attempts and failed to convert three layups during the course of the game.
Bradley finished the game shooting 39.6 percent (19-48) from the field, while Oklahoma State warmed up in the second half by making 9-of-18 field goal attempts to finish 43.8 percent for the game. The Cowboys made 9-of-24 (.375) 3-point field goal attempts and converted 17-of-22 (.773) free throw attempts. The Cowboys won the rebound battle, 32-30, and both teams committed 15 turnovers.
