MSU Athletics

DURANT, Okla. - History was in order in Saturday night's Lone Star Conference crossover contest at Bloomer Sullivan Arena.

No. 19 Midwestern State limited Southeastern Oklahoma State to the fewest points by an opponent in 40 years as the Mustangs rolled to a 72-42 win.

MSU improved to 9-0 for the third in school history and for the first time since it started the 1998-99 campaign with 11-straight wins.

"Our effort was great, but was was our attention to the scouting detail," MSU coach Grant McCasland said. "Credit coach (Tres) Segler to that because we knew the exact moves they would do. Our attention detail was the key."

The Mustangs held SOSU without a point for 10:59 in the first while peeling off a 15-0 run as the Savage Storm went 0-for-16 and committed eight turnovers between a Darrell Hicks layup at the 18:16 mark of the first half until Will Slones slammed in basket with 7:24 left before intermission.

That's the the exact signature McCasland commands from the team.

"The bottom line is if you guard every night, you're going to have a chance to win," McCasland said. "That's what we're going to hang our hat on. These guys are tough."

The Mustangs held Southeastern to just 10 points in the opening which was the lowest point total since limiting Austin College to 10 second-half points in the second half of a 28-18 win ion Feb. 6, 1968 in Sherman.

"It starts with the efforts of Chris Hagan and Jason Ebie with the way they go after each other everyday in practice," McCasland said.

Ebie finished with nine points, five rebounds, three assists and three steals, while Hagan splashed in three 3-pointers on his way to 13 points and four steals.

But it was the play of senior forward Anthony Moore that gave the Mustangs a lift as he finished with his second career double-double with a team-high 14 points and pulled in 10 rebounds.

"We needed him tonight," McCasland said. "We have been getting outrebounded a few games this year and they still had 15 offensive rebounds tonight. We need to more work on that yet."

Senior guard Craig Green added 12 points and five rebounds, while Michael Godwin had 11 points and six rebounds.

Southeastern Oklahoma was paced by junior 7-footer John Allison who fired in a season-high 13 points, while Slones was limited to eight points and three rebounds before fouling in 19 minutes of court time.

The Mustangs take on East Central (Okla.) Monday night at the Kerr Events Center in Ada. Tipoff is set for 8 p.m. or 25 minutes after the women's game which begins at 6.

Notables
* Midwestern State held an opponent to the fewest points since Austin College scored just 8 points in the first half and 10 points in the second half in a stall game on Feb. 6, 1968. The then-Indians won the game 28-18.
* The Mustangs extended their regular season winning streak to 15 which is the most since MSU rolled off the same number of wins during the 1999-2000 season.
* MSU improved to 9-0 for just the third time in school history. Midwestern sported a 12-0 start in 1973-74 when the Indians advanced to the NAIA national championship game before falling to Grand Canyon (Ariz.). The 1998-99 squad had 11-straight wins and played host to the South Central Regionals in their first NCAA Division II postseason for the first time in school history.