Cowboys Drop Season Series to TCU, Lose 81-78 in Fort Worth
In a must-win game for Oklahoma State, the Cowboys came up short late and lost to TCU 81-78 on the road in Fort Worth.
With the loss, the Pokes drop the season series to the Horned Frogs and move to 11-5 on the season and 4-5 in conference play.
“To be honest, this is probably one of the few times I’ve felt disappointed in our mental focus and it was from the start [of the game]. We didn’t have the urgency that we needed to go on the road and win in this league,” said head coach Mike Boynton. “Obviously, part of that is on me as a coach to make sure our guys understand what’s at stake, what we’re playing for. The guys have to go out there and play and fight and we didn’t do that from the beginning; we were playing catch up and reacting to everything and tonight, particularly on the offensive end. We played a game tonight where we looked to me, before the benefit of watching the film, we thought we would just outscore them, like we thought we would have enough possessions to score the last time and obviously that didn’t work out. It’s always dangerous when you play that way because you don’t always know who’s going to have the ball last.”
The game would come down to the final 30 seconds of the game. Bryce Williams was fouled on the in-bounds play with 25.6 seconds left and he put the Pokes back up two, 78-76. Cunningham missed a layup with 11 seconds left and Jaedon Ledee hit a layup and was fouled on the shot to put the Frogs up two with 2.2 to go in the game.
Ledee would hit the and-one shot, giving the Pokes just 2.2 seconds to try and tie the game up and send it to overtime. The ball was inbounded to Cunningham, who got a look at half court, but it bounced off the backboard and the rim.
Cunningham finished the half with zero points, one rebound and two fouls, but would turn it up in the second half. He’d pick up his first points of the game from the free throw line in the first two minutes of the half. He wouldn’t hit his first field goal of the game until the 16:25 mark of the second half, but it wouldn’t be his last. He’d light it up in the second half scoring 19 points.
It was MA Moncrieffe who led the way for the Pokes in the first half with 11 points and eight rebounds. He’d finish with 17 points and 10 rebounds. It marked his third double-double of the season.
Junior Isaac Likekele struggled again as he finished with just four points and one rebound, and Kalib Boone struggled on the night as he finished with just one point and three rebounds.
The Cowboys shot an impressive 59.1% from the field in the second half and 75% from 3-point range. They’d finish the game shooting 49% from the field, same as TCU. They also out-scored the Frogs 33-14 off the bench, but TCU out-rebounded the Pokes 35-28 and the Cowboys struggled from the free throw line as they missed 10 shooting 22-of-32 and 68.8% from the line.
The Cowboys got out to a rather slow start to the game as the Horn Frogs jumped out to a 6-1 lead before Kevin Samuel was called for goaltending on a shot by Matthew-Alexander giving the Pokes their first made field goal of the game.
The Frogs then nailed a big three at the other end before the first media timeout of the game giving them a 9-3 lead over the Pokes. It would get a little worse before it got better as the Frogs jumped out to a 13-5 lead just a little over six minutes into the first half. They’d jump out to an 18-10 lead before the Cowboys went on a 9-0 run to take the lead with just over nine minutes left in the half, capped with a Rondel Walker three to give the Pokes their first lead of the game at 19-18.
The Cowboys would extend that out to an 11-0 run before TCU hit their first bucket in nearly five minutes.
Cade Cunningham sat out most of the first half as he picked up two early fouls in the first five minutes of action, as did Kalib Boone in a little over seven minutes.
It would be a back-and-forth game for the remainder of the half, including a big three from Ferron Flavors Jr. It’s the first game back for Flavors since the West Virginia game in January and his first made three since Dec. 16, the last time the Pokes faced TCU.
The Frogs had the final shot of the half and Mike Miles missed a three attempt but was fouled by Bryce Williams on the way down. He’d make two of three free throws to tie the game at 34 going into halftime.
The Cowboys play host to No. 6 Texas this coming Saturday, Feb. 6. Tipoff is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. CT on ABC.