Dec. 13, 1999

OKLAHOMA CITY -- There is a reason two assistants on San Diego State's basketball coaching staff weren't here yesterday. It is this:

Oklahoma State 97, SDSU 63.

The Aztecs learned where the nation's elite programs sit and how far they are from them. Uh, pretty far.

And so while Brian Dutcher and Marvin Menzies worked the recruiting trails for immediate help next season, Steve Fisher's side took from this trip a valuable lesson on how to compete against the country's No. 17 team.

Play scared, and you trail 47-19 at halftime.

Stand up and don't back down, and you play a Sweet 16-caliber team close to even thereafter.

The Aztecs (1-3) did both.

"We were afraid in the first half, and that is totally unacceptable," said Fisher. "They had 13 offensive rebounds and we had 14 turnovers at halftime. That's being afraid on both ends. We showed a little something in the second half. We can build from that.

"That is a very, very good team over there. I would not want to play them if I was another good team trying to make my way through March."

It is arguably the best team SDSU will face this season and that includes Utah twice in the Mountain West Conference. OSU (7-0) has size and speed and the experience of seven seniors. It all showed up here early before 7,639 at the Myriad, where the Cowboys ran to an 18-3 lead and were never bothered.

The sign of a good (and very big) team: OSU had 40 rebounds (16 offensive), 36 points in the paint, 32 off turnovers, 18 on second chances and 31 assists.

"We had read all about them," said SDSU junior center Marcelo Correa. "We knew what they were about. We knew how good they were. We talked about coming out and not being intimidated. We talked about that a lot. But that's what happened. Too much talking, no action."

Correa is one Aztec who played hard from the outset. He is 6-foot-10 and weights 220 pounds, handicapped each game in that he is a forward playing center and will consistently be matched against bigger people. Ones like OSU senior Alex Webber (6-10, 270), who had eight points and eight rebounds in just 18 minutes. Correa, though, didn't back down, tied a career high with 22 points and grabbed eight boards.

Fisher in hoping to inspire any kind of scoring replaced Bradley Jackson and Myron Epps in the starting lineup with Jeffrey Berokoff and Vince Okotie. Neither new starter scored and each attempted just two shots. Fisher several times implored Berokoff to look shot first, then pass. He rarely did.

The second half can be viewed in a few ways. OSU substituted freely, giving eight players at least 11 minutes. The very good ones, point guard Doug Gottlieb (nine points, 14 assists) and forwards Desmond Mason (20 points) and Brian Montonati (14 points, eight rebounds) more than showed up.

But in playing the Cowboys after intermission to 36-36 with three minutes left, the Aztecs showed an ability to create and make shots. David Abramowitz scored 11 and hit 3-of-5 three-pointers. Michael Marion scored 10, eight after halftime.

SDSU entered having made just five threes in three games. It made six yesterday. It shot 44.7 percent, up from 38 percent coming in.

"We lost a little intensity with the big lead and to their credit, they came out and were aggressive," said OSU coach Eddie Sutton.

Said Mason: "It's tough to stay on a run like we had to start the game. You knew they were going to step up at some point. By then, though, we had it in control."

Things get a bit easier now, but not much. SDSU plays host to South Carolina State (which won Saturday at Clemson) on Thursday before traveling to Arizona State on Saturday. The Aztecs play six games over the next 17 days, including five at home.

"If we play as soft as we did in the first half, things will go this way all year," said senior guard Donte Wilson. "We need to believe we can win. We didn't here, at least not early on. We need to fight more."