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SportsJanuary 31, 2010

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Five days after getting routed at border rival Kansas, Missouri had a huge response. Oklahoma State coach Travis Ford claimed he could see it coming after the Tigers made 17 3-pointers and hounded the Cowboys into a season-worst 24 turnovers in a 95-80 victory Saturday...

By R.B. FALLSTROM ~ The Associated Press
Missouri's Laurence Bowers shoots between Oklahoma State's Fred Gulley and Obi Muonelo during the second half Saturday in Columbia, Mo. (L.G. PATTERSON ~ Associated Press)
Missouri's Laurence Bowers shoots between Oklahoma State's Fred Gulley and Obi Muonelo during the second half Saturday in Columbia, Mo. (L.G. PATTERSON ~ Associated Press)

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Five days after getting routed at border rival Kansas, Missouri had a huge response.

Oklahoma State coach Travis Ford claimed he could see it coming after the Tigers made 17 3-pointers and hounded the Cowboys into a season-worst 24 turnovers in a 95-80 victory Saturday.

"Did we catch them at the right time? Uh, uh, no," Ford said. "You don't want to catch a team after they've just gotten beat up in a rivalry-type game."

Kim English ended a scoring slump with 20 points and had four 3-pointers for Missouri (16-5, 4-2 Big 12), which was 17 of 31 from long range and shot 52 percent overall in recovering from the 84-65 loss to the Jayhawks that was more lopsided than the score indicated. The Tigers doubled Oklahoma State's season average for turnovers, which led to 38 easy points.

"That's what we do, we try to disrupt people," Tigers guard Zaire Taylor said. "When we're doing that, it's rough."

Missouri's Kim English, left, and teammate Keith Ramsey fight off Oklahoma State's Matt Pilgrim as they battle for a loose ball.
Missouri's Kim English, left, and teammate Keith Ramsey fight off Oklahoma State's Matt Pilgrim as they battle for a loose ball.

James Anderson had a season-high 31 points with eight rebounds for Oklahoma State (16-5, 4-3). Matt Pilgrim added 21 points, 15 above his average, and added nine rebounds.

But the Cowboys missed point guard Ray Penn, out for the third straight game with a knee injury.

"They're so long and athletic and quick and they play hard the whole time," Anderson said. "They're just scrambling for the ball like a pack of wolves.

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"If they get one turnover, they just feed off of it and they got a couple of turnovers and fed off of their crowd."

Marcus Denmon and Michael Dixon also had four 3-pointers apiece. Laurence Bowers had 16 points and Taylor 14 for the Tigers, who have won 32 in a row at home and entered the game with a 29-point average victory margin. They've sold out the last three games.

"It's in the top three in the league for toughest places to play," said Anderson, the Big 12's leading scorer. "Probably here and Kansas State are the toughest we've played at this year."

Oklahoma State had won three in a row, including a victory at Kansas State a week earlier, but the issue was settled early in the second half as Missouri bounced back from its season-worst 28 percent shooting performance at Kansas.

"They were down about that game," Tigers coach Mike Anderson said. "So I thought they were looking forward to an opportunity to hopefully show people and the nation we're a much better team."

Missouri missed only 1 of 11 shots during an extended 27-9 run that provided a 79-60 cushion with just more than eight minutes to go. The Tigers have won three straight in the series for the first time since 1994 and were the first team to top 90 points against Oklahoma State.

English fueled Missouri early, hitting five of his first seven shots and scoring 14 points in the first half. He leads the Tigers with a 14.6-point average, but had been shooting 28 percent in conference play and came off the bench at Kansas after making 14 straight starts.

Oklahoma State exceeded its previous season high of 20 turnovers with nearly 13 minutes to go after a rash of four straight giveaways that helped Missouri score 11 straight points for a 63-51 lead. The mistakes followed an impressive streak by Anderson, who had 14 points in the first 5:02 of the half to shave the Cowboys' deficit to one.

"When you've got a player like James Anderson, you kind of ride him," coach Anderson said. "They rode him, especially in the second half."

Anderson was 11 of 13 from the line and scored in double figures for the 35th consecutive game, breaking a tie with Richard Dumas for the second-longest streak in school history and topped his previous best by a point. The junior passed three players -- Ivan McFarland, Randy Rutherford and Matt Clark -- to move up to sixth on the school career scoring list.

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