Oklahoma State Overcomes First Half Deficit to Win 74-68
Oklahoma State remained perfect in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Classic with an impressive 74-68 come-from-behind win over NC State.
With the win, Oklahoma State moves to 4-1 on the season.
Kalib Boone led the way in scoring for the Pokes as he finished with 20 points on 8-of-14 shooting from the floor. He also hauled in four rebounds and recorded five blocked shots. Rondel Walker was second in scoring for the Pokes as he finished with 16 points on 4-of-8 shooting from the floor and 6-for-6 from the free throw line.
As a team, the Cowboys shot 39% from the floor, 77.4% from the free throw line and just 15% from 3-point range. They out-rebounded NC State 44-39, including 28-24 on the defensive end. The Cowboys also forced 17 turnovers on the night, while just turning it over 12 times and outscored NC State 56-5 in points off the bench.
It was a bit of a slow start to the game for both sides as the first points weren’t scored until nearly three minutes into the game when NC State hit a second-chance layup. They’d start with a 7-0 run before the Avery Anderson III hit two free throws with 14:26 left in the first half to give the Pokes their first points of the game.
It was a very defensive remainder of the half as the Pokes would go down by as many as nine points, 19-10 with just over 9 minutes left in the half. They’d claw their way back into the game as Rondel Walker hit a 3-pointer with two and a half minutes left in the first half tie it up at 25, the first tie since the start of the game. Kalib Boone then got the ball into Tyreek Smith, who flushed it home with just under two minutes to go to give the Pokes their first lead of the game, 27-20 following an 8-0 run.
The Cowboys would extend that run up to 12-0 on two free throws from Bryce Thompson, as well as a fast-break dunk from Thompson following a big block from Tyreek Smith and an assist from Isaac Likekele.
The Cowboys went into halftime with a 31-25 lead, a lead they wouldn’t give up for the rest of the game. NC State made it close down the stretch as they cut it to within two with less than a minute left in the game.
Bryce Thompson found Ka. Boone with an alley-oop with less than :50 left to go up by six, 68-64, before Dereon Seabron hit a fastbreak layup to cut the Pokes’ lead to two, 68-66. Anderson III was fouled as soon as the ball was inbounded, but he missed the front end of a one-and-one.
However, it was the guy who gave the Pokes their first tie of the game, Rondel Walker who iced the game. He hit four free throws in the final 15 seconds of the game to effectively put the game out of reach, 74-68.
The Cowboys will host Charleston this coming Monday, November 22 at 7 p.m. CT. The game will be streamed on ESPN+.