Cowboy basketball begins practices with Bash
By Kylee Glover – Daily O’Collegian
STILLWATER, Okla. (U-WIRE) — The Oklahoma State Cowboy basketball team kicked off the first day of practice Saturday with their annual Basketball Bash.
After last year’s trip to the Final Four, 12,000 fans came out to support the 2004-05 team in hopes for another run to the championship starting with the season opener against Northwestern State on Nov. 19.
“These guys are loaded,” said Brad Carson, R-Okla., who is currently running for U.S. Senate. “This will not only be another trip to the Final Four, but it will also be the first championship in many years for the Cowboys.”
The Cowboys began the bash with a dunk contest judged by five Oklahoma journalism professionals who cover Oklahoma State sports every year. The competitors were scored based on a 1-10 scale with a score of 10 being the best.
The two finalists in the contest were junior college transfer Aaron Pettway and senior forward Joey Graham, who won the contest with a perfect score after taking off from a foot within the free-throw line.
After the dunk contest, the Cowboys had a 3-point shootout. Seniors Stephen Graham and John Lucas III reached the finals, and Lucas won the competition after hitting 12 3-pointers in 35 seconds.
“I love to shoot,” Lucas said. “We had all those fans out there and I just wanted to give them a show.”
Following the shootout, the team had a Black versus White intrasquad scrimmage, which consisted of two 10 minute halves. The Black team defeated the White team, 45-31.
Senior Ivan McFarlin led the black team with 13 points on 6-of-8 shooting. Lucas added 11 points to the victory.
In a losing effort, Stephen Graham led the white squad with 11 points on 3-of-5 shooting while his brother Joey Graham added 10 points.
“The first time you scrimmage like that, the thing that is most impressive is they played hard,” head coach Eddie Sutton said. “They have a chance to be very good.”
The Cowboys are returning four starters from last year’s Final Four team and also added two newcomers that Sutton said will contribute immediately to the team this year.
Sutton said Pettway, a 6-foot-11 Hutchison Community College transfer, will be a big presence inside the paint for the Cowboys this season.
“It felt good to get out there and play,” Pettway said. “Once you get out there and start banging around a little bit, you get used to it.”
Also added to the Cowboy roster is freshman JamesOn Curry. Curry is the North Carolina high school leading scorer of all-time and is expected to do great things for the team this year, according to Sutton.
“It felt good,” said Curry about his first performance in front of fans in Gallagher-Iba. “That’s why I came here.”
Of the 12,000 fans in attendance, one had recently moved to Stillwater solely to support Cowboy athletics.
“I am impressed with the depth,” said Gordon Biswell of Shawnee. “We have 11 guys that can really play. My wife and I retired from Shawnee just to move to Stillwater and support the Pokes.”
“We are very excited about this coming basketball season. We won’t miss a game.”
© 2004 Daily O’Collegian via U-WIRE.
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