After a blowout loss to Cincinnati on Saturday, Oklahoma State gutted it out on the road in Orlando to earn its second quad one win of the season. The Cowboys beat UCF in overtime, 111-104.
With the win, the Cowboys move to 18-12 overall on the season and 6-11 in Big 12 play. The win also marked the second overtime win in the past three games for the Pokes.
“Obviously for us, this is a feeling that we haven’t had in a while and especially haven’t been able to rebound after a loss like we took on Saturday night,” coach Steve Lutz said. “But as I told the guys, I was very proud of their effort, I was proud of their fight, but in my opinion, we put ourselves in a position to win this game on Sunday and on Monday because of our practice habits, because of our competitiveness and because of our defensive effort.”
Anthony Roy led all scorers with 27 points on 50 percent shooting from the floor and 10-of-11 from the free throw line.
Four other Cowboys finished in double figures. Kanye Clary had 23 points on 6-of-14 shooting from the floor, 4-of-8 from 3-point range and 7-of-8 from the free throw line, both Christian Coleman and Jaylen Curry finished with 16 points and freshman Ben Ahmed finished with a season-high 10 points.
As a team, the Pokes shot 49% from the floor, 39% from 3-point range and 80% from the free throw line on 32-of-40 shooting from the stripe. Fouls were a big issue for both teams. The Pokes had 27 team fouls and the Knights 25. Both Ahmed and Clary fouled out.
The Cowboys battled back from a 13-point deficit early in the first half following an 8-0 run by the Knights to make it 21-9. After the tying the game at 31 with less than six minutes left, the Cowboys went on an 11-0 run to take a six-point lead, 42-36, with one minute left in the break. They’d keep that lead all but one minute of the second half and until the Knights tied it with 11 seconds left in regulation.
Roy had a chance to put the game away on an inbounds play but was blocked by John Bol at the buzzer to force OT.
Clary and Andrija Vukovic, who posted a season-high 24 minutes, combined for 11 points in the extra frame to put the game away.
The Cowboys outrebounded the Knights 47-39, including 14-13 on the offensive end for 18 points, while turning the ball over just 10 times. But they were completely dominant on the boards in overtime. It was 9-2 in favor of the Pokes, 6-1 on the defensive end and 3-1 on the offensive end.
The Cowboys are back in action this coming Saturday as they host Houston for Senior Day.
