Cowboys Win Overtime Barnburner Over No. 13 Texas Tech in Lubbock

Oklahoma State jumped out to a hot start over No. 13 Texas Tech as they led by as many as 12 points, as well as went into halftime with a nine-point lead. Tech turned up the pressure in the second half, but the Pokes were able to rally and hold on and force overtime to win, 82-77.

The 82 points scored by the Cowboys is the most allowed by Texas Tech this season as they were giving up just 53.7 points per game this season.

This is the Pokes first win in Lubbock since 2017 and they move to 7-2 on the season and 1-2 in conference play.

“First of all, I’ve got a lot of respect for Texas Tech and coach [Chris] Beard and his staff and what they’ve done here, it’s tremendous” said head coach Mike Boynton. “I’m not sure five years ago this would’ve been considered a big win, to be perfectly honest. This is a huge win for us, for our kids, for our program and I’m really proud of our kids for showing the fight and resiliency that it took to come in here and win because certainly not everything went our way. We dealt with some adversity during the game and our kids showed some fight and I’m really, really proud of that. So, happy to get our of here with a win, but it’s one win in the Big 12 and the next one is going to be just as hard.”

Marcus Santos-Silva was fouled and sent to the free throw line with just over two minutes remaining in the game to give the Red Raiders their largest lead of the game, three-points to go up 63-60. Cade Cunningham was fouled and sent to the line with 1:29 remaining, where he sunk one of two, getting the game to two points, 63-61.

Mac McClung was fouled and sent to the line where he spilt the pair, with Likekele getting fouled by Avery Benson. Likekele also split the pair, but a lane violation was called on Tech on the miss, allowing him to hit the second, bringing the Pokes to within one, 64-63 with less than a minute remaining.

After two made Tech free throws, Likekele drove the lane and hit a layup and was fouled, but missed the free throw to bring the game back to one-point with 43-seconds remaining, 66-65. Cunningham was fouled on a 3-point attempt 27-seconds left with the Pokes trailing three, and nailed all three to tie the game up at 68.

Tech committed an illegal screen with four seconds remaining without getting off a shot to give the Pokes a chance to win, but Bryce Williams turned the ball over right before the end of regulation to send it to overtime.

Cunningham fouled out of the game with just under three minutes remaining in overtime, but the Cowboys were able to overcome it.

With the Pokes up one, Keylan Boone hauls in a rebound in the paint and gets fouled on the make and was able to convert on the 3-point play to put the Pokes up four, 76-72, fouled up by a huge steal and fast break slam by Bryce Williams to put the Pokes up six, 78-72.

McClung fouled out to send Avery Anderson III to the free throw line, who sank both of his shots to put the Pokes back up six, 80-74.

After a Tech three and then defensive rebound on the other end, Williams again comes up with another huge steal and fed Anderson for a layup at the buzzer to knock off Tech, 82-77.

It was a hot start to the game for the Pokes, a start that carried them through the first half. In his first start of the season, Bryce Williams got about a hot a start as any Cowboy this season as he went 3-for-3 from 3-point range, followed up by a couple of buckets to tie his season-high at 13-points. He turned it up once again in overtime as he recorded two steals that lead the win. He’d finished the game with a career-high 15-points on 5-of-9 shooting from the field, 3-of-5 from 3-point range, three assists and two steals.

After fouling out, Cunningham finished the game 13-points, seven rebounds and four assists.

Williams wasn’t the only Cowboy who had a solid game for the Pokes as Avery Anderson III led the way with 17-points on 6-of-7 shooting from the field and six rebounds.

It was a solid first half for the Pokes as they shot 44% from the field, 42% from 3-point range and went a perfect 8-of-8 from the free throw line. They also outrebounding the Red Raiders 20-17 and held Tech to just 28% shooting from the field.

The Pokes finished the game shooting 44% from the field, while out-rebounding Tech on both ends of the court, 39-36. They also outscored Tech in the paint 32-22 and would lead the game for 35 and a half minutes.

The Cowboys entered the second half leading by nine, but things started to go downhill for the Pokes offensively for the first 12-minutes of the second half. Within eight minutes of the half, the Red Raiders pulled the game within two points, 45-43 while holding the Pokes scoreless with a five-minute scoring drought. That was the second five-plus minute scoring drought of the game for the Pokes as they went nine-plus minutes without scoring from the field.

After a couple of made OSU free throws and taking the lead back, Tech tied the game up at 49 from the free throw line, but Cunningham had an answer for that as he nailed just his second jumper of the game to put the Pokes back up two, 51-49. Terrance Shannon would hit a layup a few minutes later to give Tech their first lead since less than one minute into the game, but Avery Anderson III nailed a three on the other end.

The game, as well as the lead, would go back and forth several times for the final five minutes, but the Cowboys turned it up when it mattered most to send the game into overtime.

Next up for the Pokes is West Virginia as they host the Mountaineers in Stillwater on Monday, Jan. 4. Tipoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. CT on ESPN2.