Bryce Thompson Leads OSU Past Eastern Washington 70-61 to Advance to Next Round of NIT

STILLWATER – No. 1 seed Oklahoma State’s trip in the NIT continues as they beat Eastern Washington 70-61 in their second-round home game in front of their home crowd in Gallagher-Iba Arena.

With the win, the Cowboys move to 20-15 overall on the season and will face North Texas on Tuesday, March 21 at 6 p.m., with the game being televised on ESPN.

Watch: Mike Boynton discusses 71-60 win over Eastern Washington

Bryce Thompson led the way with a game-high 22 points on 50% shooting from the field, 8-of-16, and 6-of-11 from 3-point range.

Tyreek Smith recorded his second-straight double-double of his career with 11 points on 5-of-7 shooting and 10 rebounds, nine of which came on the defensive end.

John-Michael Wright also finished with double-dight points with 11 on 4-of-9 shooting from the field and 3-of-5 from 3-point range.

As a team, the Cowboys were very solid from the field as they finished the game shooting 48% from the field and 46% from 3-point range. They outrebounded the Eagles 38-31, as well as 30-23 on the defensive end.

The Cowboys did, however, turn the ball over 19 times, leading to 23 points on the other end.

The Cowboys struggled to hit shots early in the first half as they went 0-of-5 from the field in the first two-and-a-half minutes of the game before Tyreek Smith hit a bucket in the paint. He had an and-one opportunity but missed the free throw to get the Pokes back within three, 5-2.

Bryce Thompson hit a big three a few plays later to tie the game at five.

Smith, appropriately, gave the Pokes their first lead of the game, 7-5, with another hard made basket in the paint with 15:51 remaining in the first half. He extended that lead, 8-5, with a made and-one attempt.

The Cowboys took their largest lead of the day, up to that point, with a nice sequence at the 10:39 mark of the first half. Woody Newton hauled in a defensive rebound, which lead to a John-Michael Wright fastbreak corner three. On the ensuing trip down the court, Thompson recorded a streak, which led to a fastbreak layup on the other end to give the Pokes a six-point lead, 17-11.

EWU then went on a quick 7-0 run over the next minute to give them the lead back, 18-17, with nine minutes left in the half.

The Cowboys finished the half strong as they hit four-straight threes, two from Thompson, one from Caleb Asberry and freshman Quion Williams drilling a corner three at the buzzer to send the Cowboys in the break with a nine-point lead, 39-30.

Thompson led the way in the first half with 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the floor and 3-of-4 from 3-point range. Smith recorded nine points on 4-of-6 shooting from the floor and hauled in six rebounds.

The Cowboys came out of the break just as hot as they went in as Thompson hit a three, which was following by a dunk and an and-one by Cisse to extend their lead up to 15 points, 45-30.

The Eagles cut that lead down to eight, 50-42, eight minutes into the half. After another quick bucket by the Eagles, Williams hit Wright in the corner for a big three to put the Cowboys back up by nine, 55-46, with 9:58 left in the game.

The Cowboys were able to keep an eight to 11-point lead for most of the rest of the game, before Thompson drilled another three to five them a 12-point lead with just under five minutes left to go in the game, 65-53.

The Eagles made a valiant effort late, but the Cowboys were able to hold on to a double-digit lead for the final minute of the game.