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Oklahoma State Basketball

Oklahoma State Hangs on To Beat West Virginia 72-69 To Advance To Big 12 Semifinals

March 11, 2021
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For the second time in less than a week, the Oklahoma State Cowboys hang on to beat a higher ranked West Virginia team, this time in the opening round of the Big 12 tournament, 72-69.

With the win, the Cowboys move to 19-7 on the regular season and 12-7 in conference play. They’ll face the winner of the Baylor-Kansas State game Friday at 5:30 p.m. CT on either ESPN or ESPN2.

It was an intense final few minute of the game as Taz Sherman hit his fifth three-pointer of the game to give the Mountaineers a one-point lead, but Avery Anderson III hit a clutch layup on the other end to put the Pokes back on top.

After a turnover by Cunningham under the WVU basket, the Pokes were able to get the ball back after a missed Mountaineer bucket, allowing Anderson to hit both free throws after being fouled to put the Pokes up by three, 72-69.

The Mountaineers had a chance to tie the game up with 16.7 seconds left in the game, but the Pokes played suffocating defense to hold on for the 72-69 win.

Anderson and Cunningham lead the way in scoring for the Pokes as they both finished with 17 points. Anderson shot 6-of-13 from the floor with four rebounds and three assists, while Cunningham went 6-of-15 from the floor with eight rebounds and four assists.

As it has been all season, turnovers were an issue for the Pokes combined for 20 turnovers, six coming from Cunningham and four from Anderson. However, they limited them in the second half as they combined for only seven in the second half.

Bryce Williams and Isaac Likekele also finished with double digit points, both scoring 10 points. This was the first game back for Likekele, who’s played only one game since February 8 as he’s dealt with injuries.

Likekele also finished with seven rebounds and three assists.

As they did in the last game, the Cowboys outrebounded the Mountaineers 45-32. They also out-shot the Mountaineers from the field, 44% to 42% on the game.

It was a low-scoring affair for the first five minutes of the game as the Cowboys trailed 7-5 going into the first media timeout at the 15:43 mark. Fouls were an issue early for Matthew-Alexander Moncrieffe as he picked up two quick ones less than three minutes into the game. Avery Anderson III would finish the half with three fouls.

The game would remain back and forth for the remained of the first half, but the Mountaineers, more specifically Miles McBride, took over in the final minute of the half. They’d finish on a 7-0 run in the final 33 seconds of the half, with McBride recording two steals and two buckets in the final 15 seconds to put the Mountaineers up 36-30.

McBride came out in the second half and hit a quick bucket to continue the Mountaineers scoring run up to 8-0, but Anderson scored a quick five points to get the Pokes back within five, 40-35 with just over 15 minutes left in the game.

The Mountaineers took their largest lead of the game, 49-41 with just under 13 minutes to play, but Bryce Williams nailed a huge corner three to get the Pokes back within five, 49-44.

Bernard Kouma was fouled on the baseline a few minutes later and knocked down both free throws, knocking down both free throws getting the Pokes within three, 49-46.

Enter Cade Cunningham. The Big 12 Freshman of the Year hit a huge three pointer with just over 10 minutes left in the game to give the Pokes the lead back, 51-50. Isaac Likekele hit a nice layup a few plays later to put the Pokes up three, followed by a huge steal and breakaway dunk by Avery Anderson III to give the Pokes their largest lead of the game at 55-50.

The bucket by Anderson extended the Cowboys’ scoring run up to 16-3, up from being down by eight less than five minutes prior. Anderson would hit another huge bucket, a corner three, to the Pokes up by eight with just over seven minutes left in the game.

The Pokes would extend that run up to 21-3 before Emmitt Matthews Jr. hit a pair of free throws getting WVU back within eight points. However, the Mountaineers would go on a run of their own, 10-1, to get back within one point, 65-64, after two threes and a layup by Taz Sherman.

Discussion from...

Oklahoma State Hangs on To Beat West Virginia 72-69 To Advance To Big 12 Semifinals

4,177 Views | 8 Replies | Last: 3 yr ago by CaliforniaCowboy
missouripoke
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Great win, but Cade has to get stronger with the ball. He has literally had the ball grabbed out of his hands way too many times this year. Numerous times this game. He is so talented, but be strong!
Tulsa Booster
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Everybody, including the announcers, know that's his weakness. Definitely needs not to be so nonchalant on a few of his passes. But he's a great player and a good kid. Still can't believe he stayed with us when he knew we couldn't go to the NCAA tournament.

Sorry California, Do you still think Boynton is "in over his head" and "has lost control if his team? All of us know we turn the ball over the ball too much. But, they love playing for Coach, they play hard and they win games they probably shouldn't. Like I said before, you may want to still fire him but it's going to be Chads first major task as AD to keep Coach Boynton in spite a tough fund raising climate. I think he loves OSU and appreciates the opportunity we gave him when, on paper, he probably didn't deserve it. But money is important and coaches need to strike when they are hot. Today's hero is tomorrow's unemployed coach. I bet Chad gets it done but NOT with a 10 year contact.
Zach Lancaster
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Staff
Now, now, that was a very impressive win, despite the turnovers, so let's keep this thread civil please.
missouripoke
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Well said. He is going to be real hard to keep.
CaliforniaCowboy
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Great win, despite the continued sloppy play on offense.

Like I said from the start of the season, I'm going to enjoy watching the young kids grow up this season, and I have enjoyed it.

My big concern to start the season was lack of a big inside presence, and inside depth since Boone was prone to sitting long stretches on the bench last year. I'm still concerned about winning when we play teams with a lot of height, but Boone has developed nicely and has kept the foul trouble down.

Anderson is clearly the most improved player on the team.

Regardless of what happens from this point forward in the season, I'm looking forward to watching these freshman players continue to develop.

GO Pokes!!
GumbyFromPokeyLand
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CaliforniaCowboy said:

Great win, despite the continued sloppy play on offense.

Like I said from the start of the season, I'm going to enjoy watching the young kids grow up this season, and I have enjoyed it.

My big concern to start the season was lack of a big inside presence, and inside depth since Boone was prone to sitting long stretches on the bench last year. I'm still concerned about winning when we play teams with a lot of height, but Boone has developed nicely and has kept the foul trouble down.

Anderson is clearly the most improved player on the team.

Regardless of what happens from this point forward in the season, I'm looking forward to watching these freshman players continue to develop.

GO Pokes!!

Height is not a problem. It's brawn that gives our bigs trouble at times.
NJAggie
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Well yesterday's win was huge. If that pushed this team to a 3 seed, then that makes a huge difference in reaching the Elite 8. Getting the 1 seed in the regional final vs the semi is a game changer.

Lets see what happens when we get out of conference again. We didn't have as many turnover issues in ooc even in the tough games, so some of it may be knowledge and not just sloppy play. I agree they make some risky passes, but some of those were working before we got in conference so we'll see what happens in the tourney.
CaliforniaCowboy
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That didn't sound right to me, so I looked it up. We only played 2 OOC games where we had less than 15 TO's and that was ORU and Texas Southern. We even had 18 against Texas Arlington.

None of those OOC teams will be in the tournament.


I hope your theory is right, but it seems more like teams that can play a little defense tend to make our TO's go up considerably.

Advancing in the Big Dance is mostly about being able to play a little defense. Fortunately OSU is a great defensive team.

It's going to be interesting to see which seed and bracket we end up in.
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