(Editor’s note: Ben Schatzel, a student at Seminole High School, has been a sports writer for the Producer for the past couple of years. He was granted press credentials for the game written about below).

On Saturday, Oct. 26, the Oklahoma State basketball team took the floor for the first time in the 2024-2025 season. The Cowboys hosted the SMU Mustangs in a charity exhibition to promote heart health awareness and CPR training, as well as raise money for the American Heart Association. In new Head Coach Steve Lutz’s first game as a Cowboy, he saw his team come away with a hard fought 89-78 win over the Mustangs.

The game began as a backand- forth affair with SMU holding a four-point advantage at the under 12 timeout. That’s when the Cowboys caught fire from behind the three-point line, hitting their next 7 triples. After trailing 24-20, OSU ended the half on a 27-14 run over the final 10 minutes to take a 47-38 lead into the break. With the big story being the Cowboys shooting 10-16 from three, while the Mustangs were just 5-15 from behind the arc.

The start of the 2nd half saw OSU continue their hot shooting and extend their lead to 61-46. SMU would not go down without a fight, clamping down on defense and clawing their way back into the game. The Mustangs would go on a 14-0 to cut the Cowboy lead down to 61-60 at the under 12 timeout.

However, Head Coach Steve Lutz would rally his guys together and the Pokes would stretch their lead back to ten, 78-68, with five minutes remaining in the ballgame. OSU would ride that lead for the rest of the game and come out with the win. A 89-78 victory over the Mustangs and a promising start to the Steve Lutz era.

OSU guard Bryce Thompson lit up the box score for 24 points while going a perfect 5-5 from three. He was one of three Cowboys to hit multiple triples, along with Jamyron Kellar (2-3 from three) and Marchelus Avery (3-5 from three). As a team the Cowboys connected on 50% of their three-point shots, going 14-28 from behind the arc.

The Pokes took care of the ball, having more steals than turnovers. (8-7) and held SMU to 0 fast break points while tallying 14 of their own.

OSU will open their regular season on Monday, November 4th, when they take on Green Bay, who is led by former Cowboys Doug Gottlieb. The game will be aired on ESPN+ with tipoff set for 8 p.m.