Dec. 13—WICHITA, Kan. — Cade Cunningham dribbled and measured Wichita State’s Dexter Dennis.

Cunningham — Oklahoma State’s phenom freshman — was facing the biggest moment of his short career against an NBA-level defender.

And this was the 1-on-1 matchup Cowboys coach Mike Boynton wanted. OSU’s best player against Wichita State’s best defender.

“I knew that I was going to take the last shot,” Cunningham said.

With the clock ticking down in a tie game, Cunningham dribbled toward Dennis and the 3-point line, going behind his back, between his legs and then to a crossover before firing a well-contested shot.

It hit the back of the net with 9.8 seconds left. Wichita State’s 625 fans had filled the arena with noise, but went silent.

“Thank God it went in,” Cunningham said.

The Cowboys ended their early nonconference schedule with an undefeated record and second marquee road victory, a 67-64 nailbiter inside Charles Koch Arena on Saturday behind their superstar closer.

“I just told him that he had an opportunity to go create offense,” Boynton said. “And really, really good players make good decisions. Obviously, he showed why he’s one of the elite players in the country.”

Cunningham didn’t have his best day offensively, scoring just 10 points and making 4 of 11 shots while finishing with six rebounds and three assists. He shot just twice in the second half, making the lone 3-pointer.

There was still little doubt who the Cowboys would turn to in a huge moment.

“Cade Cunningham, he showed tonight why he’s a million-dollar man,” Wichita State interim coach Isaac Brown said. “He stepped up and made a big-time shot, what big-time players do. I thought Dexter defended it well and that’s the reason he’s the No. 1 pick in the draft.”

Cunningham has proven capable of being the closer throughout the past week.

He had a dominant second half in last Saturday’s win against Oakland, scoring 12 points in the second half and setting up his teammates to pull away for the 13-point victory.

On Tuesday, he scored the final 12 points in just 91 seconds to clinch a five-point victory against Oral Roberts.

“I put in so much work,” Cunningham said. “I’ve spent so much time in the gym. I’ve got up so many shots that if a couple don’t go through I’m not really too worried about it. I know I put too much work in that it won’t stay that way.”

Saturday’s game had momentum and emotion.

It was the first time Wichita State had allowed fans all season. Even with the extremely limited capacity — only 50 students were allowed inside — the round arena was rocking late in the second half.

The Cowboys (6-0) led for more than 31 minutes of the game, but the Shockers (1-2) never went away.

OSU led by seven with 5:44 remaining. Wichita State responded with an 8-0 run to retake the lead with 3 minutes left.

After Matthew-Alexander Moncrieffe tied the game with a free throw, Cunningham locked down Ricky Council IV into a contested shot. Cunningham grabbed the rebound and quickly fired a nice pass to Moncrieffe for a three-point play.

Wichita State later tied the game with free throws from Morrise Udeze with 34 seconds remaining.

Boynton wanted to initially call a timeout. But he knew what he wanted to run in the moment. He had planned to send a screen Cunningham’s way, but Boynton realized the 1-on-1 with Dennis was better.

Boynton canceled the screen and got everybody out of Cunningham’s way.

The next moments became the biggest moment to date in Cunningham’s Cowboys career.

“We all knew it was going to happen,” OSU freshman Rondel Walker said. “We all knew who was taking the last shot. In our mind, he was making it.”