Oklahoma State basketball: Cowboys learning how to ‘survive’ in Big 12 with overtime win at Texas Tech

Time to read
1 minute
Read so far

Oklahoma State basketball: Cowboys learning how to ‘survive’ in Big 12 with overtime win at Texas Tech

Tue, 01/05/2021 - 13:28
Posted in:
Body

Jan. 3—Although Cade Cunningham wasn’t on the court during the final minutes of overtime, he galvanized the Oklahoma State men’s basketball team into action against Texas Tech.

Cunningham didn’t complain or show signs of frustration after he fouled out. He didn’t dwell on the moment. Instead, he focused on the Cowboys’ ongoing mission, and junior guard Isaac Likekele absorbed his freshman teammate’s message.

“He just said, ‘Hey guys, y’all keep it together, you all can go out there and clutch it down the stretch,’” Likekele said. “He gave us words of encouragement, words of advice.”

The Cowboys listened to Cunningham and responded.

OSU upset Texas Tech 82-77 on Saturday afternoon in Lubbock, Texas, for its first Big 12 victory of the season. With five seconds left in overtime, senior guard Bryce Williams stole the ball from Kyler Edwards and dished it to sophomore guard Avery Anderson III, whose layup sealed the win against the No. 13 Red Raiders.

“I’m really proud of our kids for showing the fight and resiliency that it took to come in here and win,” coach Mike Boynton said. “Because certainly, not everything went our way, we dealt with some adversity during the game, and our kids showed some fight.”

When the fifth foul was called on star freshman Cunningham, the Cowboys led 73-71 with 2:44 left. Then sophomore forward Keylan Boone swapped into the lineup, and he quickly boosted OSU’s momentum, dropping in a second-chance jump shot and drawing a foul to make it a three-point play. The Cowboys (7-2 overall, 1-2 Big 12) scored 14 points in overtime and held the Red Raiders to nine.

Although Cunningham wasn’t available in the last minutes, his three free throws with 27 seconds left in regulation forced overtime. It was a back-and-forth, whirlwind game, but the Cowboys relied on a group effort to overcome the Red Raiders (8-3, 1-2).

Williams, a transfer from Ole Miss, earned his first start for OSU and quickly showed everyone why he belonged in the lineup. Less than a minute into the first half, he drained a 3 from the left corner, and that was only the beginning. Williams finished with 15 points, setting his OSU career high, and he went 5-of-9 from the field, starting the game 3-of-3 beyond the arc.

“I just wanted to make a statement,” Williams said. “And hopefully I can be one of the starters next game and down the road, too.”

Likekele and Anderson had team highs of 17 points each, and Likekele also added seven rebounds, tying Cunningham to lead the Cowboys. The Red Raiders had their own star — Mac McClung, the guard who racked up 33 points to defeat OSU when he played for Georgetown last season — but his 21-point performance Saturday didn’t frazzle the Cowboys.

OSU overcame scoring droughts and bounced back after the Red Raiders’ runs, and Boynton said his team showed enough toughness to do what they needed to win.

“We didn’t put our heads down when we lost the lead,” Boynton said. “Our kids kept throwing blows. We took some, but we delivered some, and we delivered the final one. That’s what you gotta do. We just gotta survive in this league.”