STILLWATER – It was a rough night at the office for Oklahoma State as they fell to No. 15 Creighton, 79-65.
With the loss, the Cowboys moved back below .500 on the season, 3-4 overall. They’ll travel to Carbondale, Ill, next week as they’ll face Southern Illinois on Dec. 5. This is the back end of the home and home with the Salukis.
It was point guard Javon Small who led the way for the Pokes with 24 points on 8-of-17 shooting from the floor, an impressive 3-of-4 from 3-point range and 5-for-5 from the charity stripe. Freshman Eric Daily Jr. was next on the stat sheet with 13 points on 4-of-6 shooting from the floor.
As a team, the Cowboys shot 40% from the floor and a decent 44% from 3-point range. They also limited their turnovers with just nine, while forcing 10 on the other end. However, the Pokes were outrebounded 38-30, including a 32-22 clip on the defensive end. They did, however, win the points in the paint battle 32-28.
Javon Small kicked things off for the Pokes by hitting a 3-pointer and extended them to a six-point lead, 10-4, by hitting his second three of the game.
The Cowboys led nearly the first eight minutes of the game before the Bluejays took a one-point lead, 15-14, near the 12-minute mark. From there, the Bluejays jumped out to a six-point lead riding a 14-2 run, before Javon Small hit a deep two pointer to give him eight points and cut the Pokes’ deficit to 21-16.
In fact, Small went 4-for-4 in the first 10 minutes of the game.
A 3-pointer by Eric Dailey Jr. gave the Pokes a 7-0 run and tied the game up at 23-all a few minutes later. While the Pokes kept it close for most of the first half, the Bluejays started pulling away near the six-minute mark, going on a 19-2 run, which was combined with a five-plus minute scoring drought on the other end for the Pokes. They’d enter the half trailing the Bluejays, 47-29.
The Cowboys started the second half with four-straight points, a bucket by freshman Brandon Garrison and two free throws from fellow freshman Dailey Jr.
While it wasn’t as long as the first half scoring drought, the Cowboys did go on a near four-minute scoring drought near the mid-way point of the second half, trailing 59-42 before back-to-back buckets from Small to cut the deficit to 12 points at the 9:49 mark, 59-47.
However, 12 points was as close as the Pokes could get to the Bluejays down the stretch of the game.
