Lindy Waters III scored 19 points, and Issac Likekele added two key free throws with 10 seconds to play as Oklahoma State outlasted visiting Texas 61-58 on Tuesday in Big 12 Conference play at Gallagher-Iba Arena in Stillwater, Okla.
The Cowboys led by 17 at halftime and again by 16 midway through the second half but had their margin pared to three points, 57-54, after five straight points from Texas' Kerwin Roach II, with all of them coming after the Longhorns employed a press defense.
After the two teams traded layups, Matt Coleman III drove to the rim for another layup with 11.3 seconds to bring the Longhorns to within 59-58. Likekele then drained two free throws before Texas' Courtney Ramey missed a wild 3-pointer at the buzzer that could have tied the game.
Cameron McGriff added 12 points for the Cowboys (7-8, 1-2) while Thomas Dziagwa scored 10 for Oklahoma State.
Roach led the Longhorns with 17 points, with Jaxson Hayes scoring 13 for Texas (10-5, 2-1). The Longhorns were looking to start the conference season with wins in their first three games for the first time since 2010-11, when Texas won its first 11 Big 12 contests.
The Cowboys took charge from the start, scoring the game's first five points on the way to building a 27-12 advantage after a dunk by McGriff with 6:22 remaining in the half. A pair of free throws by Waters with 1:05 to play gave Oklahoma State a 39-20 advantage but Roach hit a layup to bring the Longhorns to within 17 points at intermission.
Oklahoma State led 39-22 at halftime as Waters had 13 points and McGriff added 10 for the Cowboys. Oklahoma State outshot Texas 46.7 percent to 37.1 percent in the first half, with the biggest difference coming from 3-point range; the Cowboys were 6 of 10 from beyond the arc while Texas missed all nine of its 3-pointers.
Oklahoma State also had 21 rebounds to 14 for the Longhorns, including seven on the offensive end.
Dylan Osetkoswki paced the Longhorns with 7 points in the first half. Their output in the first half was a season-low.
Texas scored eight of the first 10 points of the second half, cutting the deficit to 41-30 on Osetkowski's dunk at the 16:36 mark, but Oklahoma State countered by scoring seven of the ensuing nine points to build its lead back to 48-32.
Next up for the Cowboys is a road game at West Virginia on Saturday afternoon. Texas returns to play when it hosts No. 8 Texas Tech, also on Saturday afternoon.
--Field Level Media
Texas | Oklahoma State | |
Kerwin Roach II 18 | Scoring | Lindy Waters III 19 |
Matt Coleman III 4 | Assists | Isaac Likekele 3 |
Kerwin Roach II 7 | Rebounds | Lindy Waters III 9 |
Jaxson Hayes 3 | Free Throws Made | Michael Weathers 6 |
Kerwin Roach II 2 | Steals | Lindy Waters III 3 |
Jaxson Hayes 4 | Blocks | Cameron McGriff 2 |
Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
Texas | 58 | 41.8 | 2-22 | 10-12 | 9 | 29 | 6 | 6 | 11 |
Oklahoma State | 61 | 36.5 | 8-19 | 15-20 | 11 | 31 | 3 | 5 | 15 |