Give this round to Eddie

BOB HOLT
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

TULSA -- Maurice Baker was the star of the Eddie and Nolan Show.
Baker, a 6-1 junior guard, scored a game-high 25 points to lead Oklahoma State to a 74-73 victory over No. 21 Arkansas on Saturday night before 9,574 fans at the Mabee Center.
The game was billed as a matchup of Oklahoma State Coach Eddie Sutton, who coached the Razorbacks from 1974-85, and Nolan Richardson, his successor at Arkansas who has been the Razorbacks' coach for the last 16 years.
But the coaches took a back seat to their players as Baker and Arkansas sophomore guard Joe Johnson dueled in the final minutes.
Baker hit two free throws with 9.4 seconds left to give the Cowboys a 74-70 lead.
Johnson, who scored 22 points, hit a three-pointer at the buzzer for the final margin.
Baker, a transfer from Dixie (Utah) Junior College, went 9 of 17 from the field and 5 of 5 from the free-throw line while playing 37 minutes.
"He's bona fide," Richardson said. "He had an exceptional game against us."
Baker put Oklahoma State (4-1) ahead for good, 64-63, on a driving basket with 2:29 left.
After Johnson and junior guard Jannero Pargo missed jumpers for the Razorbacks, Baker scored another layup on a breakaway and 6-10 junior forward Fredrik Jonzen, who had 19 points, hit a jumper in the lane to push the Cowboys' lead to 68-63 with 1:17 left.
Arkansas (6-2) pulled within 71-68 and had the ball with a chance to tie, but Johnson missed a three-point attempt with 25 seconds left.
Melvin Sanders, a 6-5 sophomore, got the rebound for Oklahoma State, was fouled with 24 seconds left and hit 1 of 2 free throws to make it 72-68.
Junior guard Teddy Gipson scored on a tip-in with 11 seconds left to pull the Razorbacks within 72-70, but Baker's free throws less than two seconds later made a four-point margin the Razorbacks didn't have enough time to overcome.
Gipson and junior guard T.J. Cleveland each scored 11 points for the Razorbacks.
Johnson was 6 of 17 from the field and struggled with his shooting down the stretch after he had scored six points in a a 2:46 span to put the Razorbacks ahead 62-57.
"Joe sometimes tries too hard to take over a game," Richardson said. "I think tonight he was trying to take this game over and put it away, but he wasn't able to do it."
Arkansas led 52-42 with 11:45 to play after three consecutive three-pointers -- one by Cleveland and two by sophomore guard Blake Eddins -- but the Cowboys refused to fold and gradually fought their way back.
"We were not very aggressive the last seven minutes, and they were very aggressive and that made a big difference in the outcome of the game," Richardson said. "We were playing not to lose as opposed to playing to win."
Oklahoma State, which trailed 38-31 at halftime, had just four turnovers in the second half and finished with 14 -- six under its average the first four games against Missouri-Kansas City, North Texas, UNLV and Wichita State.
"I thought one of the big keys in the second half was getting control of the tempo a little bit better and getting it out of an up-and-down game," Sutton said. "We've turned it over more against teams that certainly aren't in the Razorbacks' class, but we took better care of the ball in this game."
Andre Williams, a 6-7 sophomore forward, was a force inside for the Cowboys with 11 points and 13 rebounds in 30 minutes. He had seven offensive rebounds to help keep possessions alive.
"Andre played better than he had all season," Sutton said.
Oklahoma State also got a big game from sophomore guard Victor Williams, who scored 13 points, including 11 in the second half. He hit a three-pointer to tie the game 62-62 with 4:34 left and finished 4 of 12 from the field after starting 1 of 6.
"Coach Sutton really emphasized this week that I needed to make my shots," Victor Williams said. "He jokingly said that it looked like my shot took its Christmas vacation already.
"When I got the open shot tonight, I was fortunate enough to make it."
In the first half, Arkansas had a 12-0 run with a three-pointer each from Pargo, Eddins, Johnson and Cleveland to go ahead 31-19 at the 5:28 mark.
"If we had hit the panic button there, we might have been down 15 or 20 points," Sutton said. "We talked about getting it down under 10 points by halftime, and we were able to do it."
Oklahoma State bounced back from a 61-59 loss at Wichita State on Wednesday night.
"You have to take your hat off to the Cowboys and Eddie for the way they came back and played after a loss," Richardson said. "They played extremely hard. I don't think they can play any harder."
Oklahoma State scored the last four points of the first half, on a 15-foot jumper by Sanders and drive in the lane by Baker, to cut Arkansas' halftime lead to 38-31.
The Razorbacks jumped ahead 6-1 as Cleveland hit a three-pointer and junior guard Brandon Dean, who started for first time since the season opener, made a steal and scored on a drive.
Baker hit two three-pointers to help the Cowboys take a 13-9 lead with 16:30 left in the half.
Johnson's three-pointer put Arkansas ahead 17-15.
After Sanders' 15-foot jumper tied it 17-17, sophomore forward Larry Satchell's 6-foot basket on a rebound put Arkansas back in front 19-17, and a Baker layup on an inbounds play tied it again at 19.
Two free throws by Andre Williams cut the Cowboys' deficit to 33-25 with 2:37 left in the half.
Gipson's three-pointer pushed Arkansas' lead to 38-27.

This article was published on Sunday, December 10, 2000

RETURN to main page

Copyright and permissions
Copyright © 2000, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc. All rights reserved.
This document may not be reprinted without the express written permission of Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc.