STILLWATER, Okla. -- Sean Sutton sounded just like his father when he grumbled about Oklahoma State's 38-point win.
John Lucas scored 24 points and Joey Graham added 18, leading the seventh-ranked Cowboys to a 91-53 victory over Northwestern State on Friday night in the season opener for both teams.
Graham scored 15 first-half points, and Lucas had 16 points after the break for Oklahoma State, which started the season the same way they did last year, by routing the Demons.
But Sutton, who has been named the eventual replacement for his father Eddie as head coach, was unhappy with a Cowboys team that gave up too many layups on defense and got outrebounded.
"Not a very pretty game," Sean Sutton said. "I think we're happy that we won this game. But certainly we did not play very well in our opinion."
Ivan McFarlin added 14 points, and JamesOn Curry scored 12 for Oklahoma State, which returns four starters from last year's Final Four team that finished 31-4 and won the Big 12 Conference.
It was the Cowboys' fifth straight win over the Demons, including games in the last four seasons. Northwestern State, of the Southland Conference, went 11-17 last season.
The Cowboys forced 28 turnovers and limited Northwestern State to 40 percent shooting (22-for-55).
"You have to take care of the basketball if you want to get easy buckets," said Demons coach Mike McConathy. "We turned the ball over and they got so many run-outs and things like that that killed our spirits."
Oklahoma State went on a 15-5 run to take a 28-17 lead in the first half. Curry, a freshman, had eight points in the surge, including two dunks and a 25-footer.
Graham started the run with a short jumper and had six points in the outburst for Oklahoma State, which led 39-22 at the break.
The Cowboys used an 8-0 run to take a 62-36 lead midway through the second half. Stephen Graham converted four free throws and Lucas made a 10-foot jumper in the lane during the run.
Oklahoma State put the game out of reach with a 9-0 outburst that was punctuated by Daniel Bobik's' 12-foot jumper with 6:04 left that made it 77-44.
Northwestern State outrebounded the Cowboys 35-29, including a 16-9 advantage on the offensive glass. Oklahoma State got outrebounded just nine times a year ago.
"There's something wrong," Sutton said. "Right now our guys are not playing with the same intensity. They're not playing with the same energy level."
Oklahoma State was playing without key reserve forward Terrence Crawford, who has a groin pull and did not dress.
