Feb. 28—Those five minutes were everything Oklahoma State needed them to be.

Those Cowboys were the ones who could’ve upset No. 7 Baylor. Those Cowboys were the ones who, with a win on Monday night, would’ve removed themselves from the bubble conversation with the NCAA Tournament three weeks away.

But those Cowboys were the ones who had their improbable rally fall short, and the Bears escaped Gallagher-Iba Arena with a 74-68 win in hand.

“Man, obviously, we were down and didn’t get the win. You never smile on a loss, but we played against a good Baylor team,” Cowboys senior guard John-Michael Wright said. “We’re keeping our heads high at the moment, but it was a tough loss for us.”

Baylor senior forward Flo Thamba had just converted on a trip to the freethrow line to give the Bears (22-8, 11-6 Big 12) a 65-46 lead with 5 minutes and 6 seconds remaining. It was the largest the Bears would widen the gap after dominating from tipoff.

And then the Cowboys (16-14, 7-10 Big 12) narrowed it — almost erased it, even.

OSU junior big man Moussa Cisse responded to Thamba’s pair of free throws with a mid-range jumper. Texas State transfer and senior guard Caleb Asberry got a layup to go, and those two buckets were the beginning of a 22-9 Cowboys run over those final five minutes.

They drew as close as 69-65 with 35 seconds remaining after Wright, who finished with a team-best 17 points, connected on the fourth of his gamehigh 11 attempts from beyond the arc. But it was eventually too little, too late against a team that’s set to contend for a national title a month from now.

“Obviously, disappointed in the end result, but I don’t wanna ignore that our guys played with great, tremendous fight today,” OSU coach Mike Boynton said. “It’s part of just trying to fight to live another day in this league. ... Our focus is on just trying to get back to the drawing board — not necessarily from scratch, but just trying to build off of what we saw tonight from an effort standpoint and execute a little bit better.”

That final sequence flipped the script on everything OSU’s offense had been up to that point. The Pokes were 8 of 11 in the last five minutes after going 7 of 33 (21.2 percent) in the 15 minutes prior.

Entering their second meeting of the season with the Bears on a four-game losing skid — which has, of course, since been pushed to five — the Cowboys had uncharacteristically struggled on the defensive end of the floor as of late.

That wasn’t the case against Baylor. The Pokes limited the Bears to 23 of 55 (41.8 percent) from the floor, including 11 of 31 (35.5 percent) from beyond the arc. BU had just posted 81 points in a win against then-No. 7 Texas on Saturday.

The other end of the floor is where the Cowboys faltered, reverting back to their missteps on offense from the two months leading up to their win over rival Oklahoma on Jan. 18, when they started a stretch that featured seven wins in eight games and five-straight.

OSU finished 27 of 68 (39.7 percent), including 9 of 32 (28.1 percent) from deep. The Cowboys brought down a whopping 22 offensive rebounds, which served as more of an indication of how many shots they couldn’t get to fall instead of their elite presence on the glass.

“We had good looks all night. We just couldn’t convert. In the first half, we missed a lot of layups and open threes. We got what we wanted, the ball just didn’t go in early,” Wright said. “But seeing it go in later in the game just gave us a little more momentum. Just gotta keep trusting the system, trusting the process and getting better.”

It wasn’t like the Bears presented a stifling defense or anything. In fact, they entered the matchup with the second- worst scoring defense in the Big 12 at 69.9 points per game.

The Cowboys weren’t able to capitalize on open 3-point looks, and they weren’t able to get a ton of offensive production from their frontcourt, either. Senior Tyreek Smith was a bright spot off the bench with 4 points and six rebounds (four offensive) before tweaking his ankle with seven minutes to play, but Cisse and senior forward Kalib Boone combined to go 5 of 15.

That’s what can happen amid a slump and shots not falling at first, Boynton said. It can determine the confidence present — or lack thereof — the rest of the way. OSU opened the game with three shots before Baylor ever touched the ball, all of which the Cowboys missed after battling for a pair of offensive rebounds.

“Honestly, man, I think we were just missing shots,” said Cowboys junior guard Bryce Thompson, who finished with 9 points. “I mean, we got a bunch of wide-open threes in the first half. Usually, those go down, but it was pretty rough from the 3-point line for us tonight. That happens, and you’ve just gotta keep going and keep working.”

The Cowboys’ latest loss in a twoweek span full of them effectively placed them on the outside looking in. ESPN Bracketologist Joe Lunardi, an expert when it comes to the NCAA Tournament, had the Pokes out of the big dance on Monday night with the loss to Baylor.

But they can’t focus on what could have been — and what almost was — against the Bears. The Cowboys are now only left to focus on what could still lie ahead when they close out the regular season with a road trip to face Texas Tech on Saturday in Lubbock, Texas.

Boynton hasn’t sugarcoated things with his team. He knows his players hear all of the chatter surrounding the resume they’ll place in front of the committee on Selection Sunday. He’s kept a dialogue open about it, and the message has been received.

“We’re not gonna look past Texas Tech. They’re a good team as well,” Wright said. “We just got to focus on that one. But it’s in the back of everybody’s mind. It’s nothing you can do but win now, and that’s what we wanna plan on doing.”