First Round Recap – Chicago Region
by Neal Heston
A No. 15 seed hasn’t defeated a No. 2 seed since Hampton beat Iowa State in 2001, and Oklahoma State wasn’t about to let that happen in front of a sea of orange on Friday. A stingy Lions team nearly pulled off the upset with a strong second half, but Oklahoma State was able to avoid the disaster and keep on path to repeating its Final Four appearance from last season.
The Cowboys appeared to be cruising during the early minutes of the contest after jumping out to a 12-point lead, but Southeastern Louisiana cut the deficit to three midway through the second frame, grabbing the crowd’s attention. From there, the Cowboys slowly pulled away again for the final 13-point margin.
Senior forward Ivan McFarlin led the Cowboys with 18 points. James Curry and John Lucas chipped in 13 and 12 points, respectively. Southeastern Louisiana was led by 16 points from junior forward Ricky Woods.
Oklahoma State advanced to play Southern Illinois on Sunday, while Southeastern Louisiana concluded the season with a 24-9 record.
