Oklahoma State basketball: Freshmen lead Cowboys to rout of Ottawa

While super recruit Marcus Smart was making his Gallagher-Iba Arena debut — and playing well — Smart's prep teammate and fellow rookie Phillip Forte was leading the Cowboys to a rollicking rout of Ottawa in Oklahoma State's lone exhibition game Thursday night.

Forte, who starred alongside Smart on back-to-back Texas state title teams, fired in five 3-pointers and finished with 19 points in a 109-56 romp over the NAIA squad from Kansas.

A known shooter who won the National High School 3-point Championship over the summer, Forte hit on his first two shots from the arc and finished 5-of-10 from long range overall.

“They tell me to shoot it when I'm open,” Forte said, “so all I have to do is knock it down.”

Perhaps a sign of things to come, especially with an injury situation that seems to worsen by the day — starting forward Michael Cobbins suffered a toe injury in the game — the Cowboys fired away form the perimeter, making 15-of-31 shots from 3-point range.