Le’Bryan Nash has 23 points and Marcus Smart added 20 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists as Oklahoma State earned a 76-56 victory over No. 6 North Carolina State in the title game of the Puerto Rico Tipoff on Sunday.
Phil Forte had 17 points for the Cowboys (4-0), who outrebounded the Wolfpack 45-34.
Rodney Purvis had 16 points and T.J. Warren added 15 points for the Wolfpack (3-1), who shot only 28.6 percent from the field.
“We have to come out and have a better start,” Purvis said. “But that won’t happen anymore. This can happen any night. We have a bull’seye on our back. We have to prepare ourselves physically and mentally for every game and come out here and play.”
Smart was the tournament MVP.
“You could tell when wefirst scored, they didn’t have a feeling of intensity by the looks on their faces,” he said. “They have a lot of great players. And we just knew we were gonna have to come out, be ready and play hard. I could feel it. I could sense I was hot and my teammates got me the ball and it got us going.”
“Marcus [Smart] just got hot and got into a rhythm,” Oklahoma State Coach Travis Ford said. “He can do so many different things on the court to help us win. And LeBryan Nash played with such a flow throughout the tournament and it was just fun to watch. They did so many different things well. We are at our best when LeBryan is getting to the foul line.
He was joined by Nash, Warren, Tennessee’s Jarnell Stokes and Akron’s Zeke Marshall on the all-tournament team.
“I thought we played against three teams in this tournament that will be in the NCAA tournament in Akron, Tennessee and N.C. State,” Ford said.
Smart had two three-pointers early, part of an 8-2 run in the first half that gave the Cowboys a 13-9 lead.
Smart finished with 18 points in the first half as the Cowboys led 38-28 at halftime.
Nash took over the scoring load for Oklahoma State in second half. He scored 17 second-half points. Forte added 3 three-pointers in the second half.
He had a dunk and two free throws to make it 42-28.
Nash added a layup with 14:25 left to give the Cowboys a 15-point lead at 48-33.
Smart had a layup with 6:25 remaining to cap a 14-5 run and give Oklahoma State a 65-55 lead.
“You gotta give Oklahoma State credit.” N.C. State coach Mark Gottfried said. “I thought they played pretty well. That was as poor a performance as we have had in a long time. I’m not sure we did a lot of things well. We came out casual and, like in a prize fight, they took it to us.
NO. 4 OHIO STATE 77, WASHINGTON 66
UNCASVILLE, Conn. - DeshaunThomas tied a career high with 31 points and led No. 4 Ohio State to a victory over Washington and the championship of the Hall of Fame Tip Off tournament.
The 6-foot-7 junior, who also had eight rebounds, had 21 in the first half as the Buckeyes (3-0) built at 10-point lead and cruised through the second half.
Aaron Craft added 18 points for the Buckeyes, who beat Rhode Island on Saturday.
C.J. Wilcox led Washington (2-2) with 18 points and Abdul Gaddy had 15. The Huskies earned the right to play Ohio State with an overtime win Saturday night over Seton Hall.
This is the same tournament that Kentucky won last season in an early test for that young team, which won the national title.
NO. 10 FLORIDA 66, MIDDLE TENNESSEE 45
TAMPA, Fla. - Kenny Boynton had 20 points and Will Yeguete scored 11 and grabbed 13 rebounds to help No. 10 Florida pull away for victory over Middle Tennessee.
Boynton scored the final 13 of the game for the Gators (3-0), who opened the second half with a 14-2 run and never looked back.
Middle Tennessee (2-1) trimmed a 15-point deficit to nine before Mike Rosario finished a fast-break with a dunk and Boynton hit a three-pointer to begin his game-ending spurt.
Marcos Knight led Middle Tennesseewith 12 points and Shawn Jones added 10 for the Blue Raiders, who trailed 29-26 at halftime.
Florida turned up the defensive pressure in the second half, limiting the Blue Raiders to 27 percent shooting after the break. Middle Tennessee missed seven of eight shots while the Gators were taking control over an eight-minute stretch.
NO. 15 CREIGHTON 87, PRESBYTERIAN 58
OMAHA, Neb. - Doug McDermott scored 20 of his 24 points in the first half and No. 15 Creighton defeated overmatched Presbyterian.
Ethan Wragge scored 18 points, all coming on his career high-tying six three-pointers, and Austin Chatman had a career-high 11 assists to go with his nine points for the Bluejays (3-0).
McDermott, held to five points against UAB on Wednesday, bounced back to make 7 of 9 shots and all eight of his free throws. He also had seven rebounds.
Jordan Downing, who averaged 6.5 points in Presbyterian’s first two games, led the Blue Hose (0-3) with a careerhigh 25 points.
NO. 16 BAYLOR 97, ST. JOHN’S 78
CHARLESTON, S.C. - Brady Heslip had a career-high 29 points on eight three-pointers and No. 16 Baylor bounced back from its first loss to beat St. John’s and take third place at the Charleston Classic on Sunday.
Sports, Pages 17 on 11/19/2012