Longhorns take rematch: Durant leads Texas over No. 18 OSU

Feb 13, 2007, 4:50 GMT

Austin, TX - Freshman standout Kevin Durant scored 21 points and grabbed 12 rebounds to lead a balanced Texas attack as the Longhorns dominated No. 18 Oklahoma State, 83-54, at the Erwin Special Events Center.

D.J. Augustin added 19 points and dished out eight assists for Texas (18-7, 8-3 Big 12), which has won two in a row and five of its last seven games. A.J. Abrams netted 17 points, Damion James had 11 and Justin Mason contributed 10 in the victory.

'It means that we're headed in the right direction,' Abrams said. 'We have had a couple of good wins in a row so hopefully that will help us build momentum into the Big 12 tournament. Coach has been telling us to put 40 minutes together. In the second half we came out focusing on finishing the game, so I think we did a good job putting it all together.'

Mario Boggan led Oklahoma State (19-6, 5-5) with 16 points and JamesOn Curry finished with 12. The Cowboys, who have dropped three of four, finished 36.7 percent shooting from the field.

Rick Barnes now has 209 victories at Texas, making him the all-time winningest coach in Texas history. He passed Tom Penders (208, 1989-98).

It was the first matchup of both teams since January 16th when the Cowboys won a 105-103 triple-overtime thriller.

'I don't think they did anything too different from the first time we played them,' Boggan said. 'They dropped one guy down to double team me every now and then, but it wasn't anything too different from the first time. I missed a couple of easy baskets I should've made, but other than that, I think the defense was almost the same this time around.'

The Longhorns held a seven-point advantage at the break and pulled away in the second half by hitting on 68 percent of their shots and converting 56 percent from beyond the arc.

Already up by 12, Texas went on an 11-2 spurt -- capped by a James jumper -- for a 67-46 lead with 6 1/2 minutes to play.

Oklahoma State, which trailed the entire game, never threatened the rest of the way and were outscored 52-30 in the half.

Augustin put a stamp on the win with a long trey from the top of the arc to give the Longhorns a 28-point advantage with 2:45 left.

Texas wasted no time in gaining the lead with a 6-0 run to open the contest. Later, Oklahoma State closed within 19-17 on Eaton's jumper with 9:17 left, but Abrams hit a three-pointer and Durant drained a layup to give the Longhorns a seven-point edge.

Then, with just under two minutes remaining in the first half, James' tip-in put Texas up by 11 before Curry added a pair of layups to cut the Cowboys' deficit to 31-24 at halftime.

Game Notes

Eaton had 11 points and five assists for Oklahoma State.

Texas shot 56 percent from the floor.

Texas is 119-17 (.875) at the Erwin Center, including a 59-11 (.843) record in Big 12 Conference home games under Barnes.

© 2007 The Sports Network