Yor Anei scored 18 points, including a huge basket and a pair of free throws in the final minute, as visiting Oklahoma State built an 18-point lead, gave it all back and then made key plays late to outlast Houston 61-55 on Sunday afternoon.

The Cougars trailed by 16 points at halftime and by 10 with 6:51 to play but came back to tie the game at 50 on a pair of free throws by Caleb Mills with 4:11 remaining.

Oklahoma State forged a 57-53 lead on a 3-pointer by Lindy Waters III and a layup by Cameron McGriff off an assist by Waters with 1:23 to play. Houston's Quentin Grimes missed a 3-pointer before Anei hit a layup to push the advantage to 59-53.

A bucket by Caleb Mills brought Houston within three points, but the Cougars never threatened again.

McGriff added 12 points and 10 rebounds for the Cowboys (8-2), who snapped a two-game losing streak. Waters and Thomas Dziagwa hit for 11 points apiece for Oklahoma State, which played without point guard Isaac Likekele for the third straight game because of an undisclosed illness.

Mills had a career-high 23 points for the Cougars (6-3). Nate Hinton added 11 points and nine rebounds for Houston, which had won four in a row and 38 of its last 40 games at home.

Dziagwa shot 4 of 4, including 3 for 3 from beyond the arc, in the first 12 minutes as the Cowboys rolled to a 35-19 lead at halftime.

Houston went scoreless the final 7:29 of the half, missing 15 of its last 16 shots and allowing Oklahoma State to build its largest lead of the half, at 16 points, on two free throws by Waters with 35 seconds to play.

Oklahoma State outshot the Cougars 50 percent to 23.3 percent over the first 20 minutes and outrebounded the Cougars 21-17.

Hinton paced Houston with nine points in the half.

The Cougars found their stride in the second half and pulled to within 45-40 on a three-point play by Marcus Sasser with 9:05 to play. But Oklahoma State regrouped, pushing its advantage to 10 points after a putback basket by Anei with 6:51 remaining.

--Field Level Media