Oklahoma State Loses Again, This Time in a Confusing Finish at So. Illinois

It was about 14 and a half years ago that Oklahoma State was the last Power Five opponent to visit the Banterra Center in Carbondale, Ill. to play at Southern Illinois. The Salukis beat the Cowboys in Sean Sutton’s last game as head coach 69-53 in the NIT Tournament. OSU was back in Carbondale on Tuesday night and got multiple chances in a weird ending. However in the end it was Southern Illinois that took a 70-68 decision to push the Cowboys to a 3-5 record. Southern Illinois is now 6-2.

With 1:06 left Xavier Johnson, who finished with a game high 32 points, stole the ball from Jamyron Keller of the Cowboys and then went the distance with the lay in for a 66-64 lead. Javon Small led the Cowboys in scoring with 25, and he hit a pair of free throws to tie the game at 66-66 with 55 seconds left. Then it got nutty.

Southern Illinois University Athletics

Rupert had a huge basket for SIU on the late rebound and follow.

Clarence Rupert got the rebound off of a Johnson miss gping to the basket. Johnson got the basket and drew the foul. He hit the free throw and it 69-66 with 27.5 seconds left. Rupert had 13 points for SIU. With 10.9 second left Troy D’amico closed quickly and blocked Bryce Thompson’s three-point shot. Thompson was 0-for-5 from beyond the arch and 3-fo-13 from the field. His shooting has been rough in recent games. However, it worked in the Cowboys favor as the officials called D’amico for a technical and said he was celebrating. Small hit both free throws but then on the inbound Small missed on a drive to the basket and then Jarius Hicklen fired up a shot that hit the side of the backboard. 

“We got the shot we wanted. I haven’t seen the replay and it looked like Javon got all the way to the rim,” Mike Boynton told the Cowboys Radio Network afterwards. “The shot we wanted but it didn’t go in and we had to foul.”

The officials went to the scorer’s table and ruled that OSU fouled Davis with :00.5 left. He hit the first free throw and then missed the second intentionally, game over. No. The officials ruled a clock malfunction and gave the Cowboys the ball out ont he baseline with :00.4 left The try at a court length heave was blocked and the game was finally over.

“It was a pretty intense game and both team competed hard,” Boynton said on the postgame radio interview. “It was back and forth and we showed signs tonight of doing what we need to, but not enough to get the job done. I congratulate (Xavier) Johnson for leading his team and he was a wrecking crew for us.”

Oklahoma State outrebounded SIU 43-to-24 which makes it seem incredible that they lost. Then the shooting where the Salukis wer 47 percent from the field and 46.7 percent from three. The Cowboys were 39.4 percent from the field and 30.4 percent from three. 

The game started off well for the Cowboys as in front of a Salukis crowd dominated by rabid students the Pokes forged a 7-1 lead, but the home team came roaring back and then the first half settled into a battle of lead changes with nine changes on the scoreboard. 

One of the best hustle plays of the night came from the Cowboys Jamyron Keller as the freshman guarded Javon Stulic after an errant pass and one of nine first half turnovers. Keller stepped in and blocked Stulic’s drive to the basket and then as the ball sailed and looked like it was going out of bounds, Keller hustled over to save it back in Jarius Hicklen. Hicklen passed it down the floor to Quion Williams who got the roll on the lay in. Oklahoma State led 13-7.

From there it was see saw as the Salukis point guard and dominant scorere Xavier Johnson went to work. He nailed a three from the wing to make it 13-11 Pokes. Javon Small answered with a three off of a on ball screen to make it 16-11. 

Brown went to the line 13 times in the first half and hit 12 of those free shots. They helped make up the difference and SIU took the lead to the delight of the crowd at the 9:30 mark when Brown threw up a three with one of the quickest shot releases that you’ll ever see. 

Hicklen, a teriffic three-point shooter countered with a trey from the corner and his only first half points. 

With 6:23 to go in the half, Johnson hit an insane three from way out to make it 27-25 Southern Illinois. Johnson had 19 of his points in the first half.

Late in the half, final seconds and Bryce Thompson, who was 1-for-7 from the field and 0-for-4 from three-point range drove inside and hit a lay-in, the shot he should be focused on getting and that tied the score at 34-34. The full court heave by SIU nearly went in as a very entertaining and up and down half concluded.  

The second half was less up and down and more down. The Cowboys will try to win before final exams on Sunday afternoon in Oklahoma City when they play Tulsa at the Paycom Center in Oklahoma City at 5:30 p.m.