Another disappointing second half on the road for Oklahoma State led an 0-10 record in Big 12 play as they lost to UCF, 83-70.
With the loss, the Cowboys fell to 14-16 overall on the season and 6-13 in Big 12 play.
It was a decent first half for the Pokes as they entered the break with a five-point lead, 40-35. They shot 44% from the field, nearly 39% from 3-point range and nearly 88% from the free throw line. That included an impressive half from Brandon Newman, who went into the break with 13 points on 3-of-4 shooting from 3-point range. Unfortunately for the Pokes, and for Newman, he finished the game with the same point total.
Arturo Dean finished with 12 points and Jamyron Keller and Abou Ousmane each finished with 11. As a team, the Cowboys finished shooting 38% from the field, just 28% from 3-point range and 87% from the free throw line.
They were outrebounded 50-26, including 35-19 on the defensive end and 15-5 on the offensive end.
They did, however, force 19 turnovers to just nine, leading to 25 points for the Pokes.
They started the second half with a 7-2 run but then allowed an 8-0 run on the other end following a timeout after a fastbreak layup by Jamyron Keller on a steal from Abou Ousmane. Chi-Chi Avery ended the run with a dunk following UCF’s 15th turnover of the game. But the Pokes gave up a 3-pointer on the other end to make it a one-point game, 49-48, in favor of the Pokes.
But including the 8-0 run, the Knights would go on 26-9 run to go up nine points going into the under-eight media timeout. Senior Darius Johnson had 16 points in the second half up to this point.
Johnson would finish with a career-high 36 points
During the break, the refs went back and reviewed a block from Brandon Newman, which had originally been called goaltending, was reversed to a good block, making it 63-56. But shortly thereafter, the Pokes allowed another three from Johnson and one from Hendricks a few plays later to make it a 13-point game, their largest lead of the game up to that point, 69-56.
That made it a 17-2 run over a six-minute stretch before Thompson hit just his second bucket of the game.
The Knights kept their lead in double figures for the rest of the game.
