With the game tied at 52 with 12 minutes left in the game, Oklahoma State completely fell apart as they gave up a 25-6 run down the stretch to lose to Texas, 81-65.
With the loss, the Cowboys fall to 12-17 overall on the season and 4-12 in Big 12, which makes them last in the conference once again. West Virginia faces Texas Tech at 5 p.m. on Saturday, so it could tie them for last should the Mountaineers loss.
Senior John-Michael Wright led the way in scoring for the Pokes with 18 points on 5-of-12 shooting from the field, 4-of-9 from 3-point range and 4-for-4 from the free throw line. Quion Williams and Javon Small each finished with 13 points, Williams on 6-of-11 shooting and Small 4-of-10.
The freshmen duo of Brandon Garrison and Eric Dailey Jr. were non-existent as they combined for just six points and four rebounds and six fouls, with Dailey’s four points coming in the final three minutes of the game.
“It was a game of runs, continued to be a game of runs and they made the longest run at the most critical time right when we tied [the game] and we didn’t have enough to respond to one more [run],” Mike Boynton told the Cowboy Radio Network. “Give [Texas] credit for continuing to deal body blows over the course of the game, particularly as it relates to them offensive rebounding the ball. They got points off turnovers, but we did too. They got points in the paint, but we did too. We made a decent number of threes, not an overwhelming number, but they didn’t make 15 either. But the offensive rebounding numbers are pretty significant where they got 22 second-chance points and we get one, and leads to them shooting the ball 17 more times than we did. So, that was the difference, they just physical overwhelmed us as it relates to rebounding.”
The Cowboys combined for 41% shooting from the field, but 37% in the second half. They also shot just 26% from 3-point range at a 5-of-19 clip. The Cowboys committed 15 turnovers and gave up 24 points on those turnovers. They were out-rebounded 39-28, 17-8 on the offensive end and were out-scoring in second-chance points 22-1.
With the game tied at 52, the Horns go on an 14-0 run from the 12-minute mark to go up by nine points off an OSU turnover where Javon Small tripped over Brandon Garrison, leading to a UT fast break dunk, which was following by a three from Dylan Disu to put UT up 66-52.
The Pokes went down by 19 points just under four minutes left in the game, 77-58, which game them nearly five minutes of play down the stretch without a field goal. Eric Dailey Jr. broke that streak with a fast break layup just under three minutes left in the game.
A missed bucket on the other end by the Longhorns was rebounded by Shedrick and put back to make it a 19-point game again. The crazy part about that play gave the Longhorns 20 second chance points to just one for the Pokes and 14 offensive rebounds to OSU’s eight.
The Cowboys have two games remaining, with Texas Tech in Stillwater on Tuesday, March 5 the next up. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. CT and will be streamed on ESPN+.
