At least as long as they’re playing together at Oklahoma State, Phil Forte’s name will be attached to Marcus Smart.
Friends since the third grade, the freshmen from Flower Mound Marcus High School have helped lead the Cowboys to their best season since they won the regular-season Big 12 title in 2003-04.While Smart has stepped into OSU’s starting point guard role from the time he arrived in Stillwater, Okla., Forte has made an impact off the bench, averaging over 26 minutes in 27 games this season. He’s fourth on the team in scoring, averaging 10.6 points a game.He enjoyed a North Texas homecoming earlier this week when OSU won at TCU.“I just try to keep working hard every day,” Forte said. “The biggest adjustment for me is probably the speed of the game. Us going overseas to Spain in August definitely helped me out, I think. It’s just a learning process day by day. I’m playing with a bunch of talented guys, so you can go out there and have fun. It makes my job a lot easier.”Although Forte and Smart decided together to accept scholarships to OSU, they weren’t offered, as such, as a package deal. In fact, Cowboys coach Travis Ford offered Forte a scholarship a year before he offered Smart. That fact, Smart told ESPN, was important in their decision-making.“I’ve been impressed with them for a long time,” said Ford, who saw many of their high school games, including two Class 5A titles under coach Danny Henderson. “I thought they were guys who could step in right away as freshmen.”Forte gives OSU somebody off the bench who can come in an quickly give the Cowboys an offensive burst. He scored a career-high 26 points Jan. 26 against West Virginia and has twice made 6-of-11 3-point shots in a game.“Phil Forte is obviously a big part of what we’re doing,” Ford said. “I’m not surprised. I was expecting [Forte and Smart] to play about the roles they are playing. Phil Forte is a guy I thought would be playing 25 minutes a game for us. He’s proven to be what we thought he was, as well.”Stefan Stevenson, 817-390-7760 Twitter: @FollowtheFrogs
