Dec. 21—Oklahoma State coach Mike Boynton believes his team is close to figuring things out.

It might sound off putting after a second straight Big 12 defeat, this time a 77-74 loss at No. 11-ranked Texas on Sunday.

But Boynton sees primarily fixable mistakes in two games decided by one possession.

“We’re not getting run out of anybody’s gym,” Boynton said. “We’re not not competing. There were a couple games last year we weren’t competing this early in conference play.

“That’s not the goal. The goal is to win. Trust me, I’m not accepting this, but I know we’ve got 17 more games to play in the regular season. I don’t want our guys to feel defeated. There’s a lot of opportunities for us to go and do what we all want to do.”

The Cowboys are 0-2 to open conference play for the fifth straight season. They have a 13-day break until their next game, a Jan. 2 matchup at No. 14-ranked Texas Tech.

It’s a welcome break to regroup.

The first two losses of the season have been grueling for a young team.

OSU lost an eight-point lead in the final 2:21 on Wednesday against TCU.

On Sunday, the Cowboys were up five at halftime and even four with 14:44 remaining. Then Texas went on a 17-0 run to take control of the game.

OSU climbed back into the game behind superstar freshman Cade Cunningham’s 18-second half points, getting as close as three points twice. But it was too late. The damage was done.

“We didn’t do enough things well enough long enough to finish the game,” Boynton said. “Obviously, we’ve got to learn this league is unforgiving.”

The Cowboys were plagued by dry spells on offense last season in conference play. Even with the roster change, that’s again creeped up in each second half.

This time, it was a plethora of things.

OSU started the run by failing to get a shot off for a shotclock violation. The Cowboys inbounded the ball with six seconds on the clock, but miscommunication led to no shot.

Texas star freshman Greg Brown — who finished with a career-high 24 points and 14 rebounds — answered with back-to-back 3-pointers to take control.

“It’s just one that’s kinda glaring because a shot-clock violation might be the worst turnover in basketball,” Boynton said. “There’s one on both ends and it’s running down; find a way to get a shot off. If you miss it, whatever. But find a way to get a shot off.

“That’s something we have to make sure doesn’t happen very often.”

During the stretch, the Cowboys grabbed one rebound — an offensive board by freshman Matthew-Alexander Moncrieffe — as Texas grabbed four, including two defensively. And OSU had three turnovers.

“They had a lot of secondchance points,” OSU sophomore Avery Anderson III said. “And just miscommunications on the defensive side. We were away from our bench and the bench was really helping us when we were playing D on that side of the ball.”

Texas out-rebounded OSU 44-38, grabbing 15 offensive boards.

Boynton also pointed to transition defense in that stretch. Texas looked comfortable and was rolling, making it a snowball effect on the Cowboys.

“When we didn’t score, our sense of urgency sprinting back and getting our defense set so that they would have to play against us 5-on-5,” Boynton said, pointing to one issue. “You can’t go on the road and give a team that many more opportunities to score than you’re going to have.” But the Cowboys still found

But the Cowboys still found a way to make things close.

Cunningham went into attack mode. The defense started getting stops. A 13-point lead was nearly erased for the second straight game.

That’s something the Cowboys can build from moving forward.

“We’ve had two one-possession games now,” Cunningham said. “I know the Big 12’s not going to be easy, but I think the biggest thing is staying together and continuing to fight throughout the game. It’s going to be 40 minutes of a fight.

“This break, I think it’s going to allow guys to sit back and think on things and come back with a different mindset. I think we’ll definitely figure this thing out.”