Mountain State Times

Late Cowboy Rally Downs West Virginia

Oklahoma State got a couple of late baskets from Kalib Boone to outlast West Virginia 67-60 in Big 12 Monday night basketball at Gallagher-Iba Arena in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
 
The Cowboys evened their conference record to 1-1 while West Virginia drops its second straight league game in a span of three days and has now lost 11 straight Big 12 road games since its 74-66 win at TCU on Feb. 23, 2021.
 
Tonight, the Mountaineers (10-4, 0-2) battled back from a 13-point deficit to take a 57-54 lead with 5:25 remaining. Erik Stevenson's 3-point shooting got WVU back into the game. His three triples during a 1:28 span gave the Mountaineers their first lead of the game.
 
But after making his final 3 with 7:20 left, he was called for a technical foul as he ran down the floor. It was his fourth foul, which gave Oklahoma State two free throws and possession of the basketball. Then, his fifth foul came just two minutes later on the offensive end of the floor and his night was finished.
 
And so was West Virginia's as the Cowboys outscored the Mountaineers 13-5 over the remaining 5:57 of the game.
 
A technical foul on Stevenson early in the second half of Saturday's Kansas State loss also keyed the Wildcats' second-half surge. He has now fouled out of both of his Big 12 contests.

"That can't happen again," West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said. "He hurts our team when he does that."
 
Stevenson led West Virginia with 17 points and Tre Mitchell contributed 16 points and seven rebounds.
 
Oklahoma State (9-5) got balanced scoring with Bryce Thompson leading four double-digit scorers with 15. Avery Anderson added 13, John-Michael Wright had 11 and Boone finished with 10, all of them coming after intermission.
 
Cold shooting and turnovers put West Virginia in a first-half bind. The Mountaineers missed eight of their first nine field goal attempts as the Cowboys built an early nine-point lead. Then, a Joe Toussaint layup and two Jimmy Bell Jr. free throws cut OSU's lead to 19-16, and a Toussaint free throw made it 26-22 with 1:48 left in the half.
 
But Oklahoma State answered with a Thompson 3 and a Quion Williams layup to expand its advantage to nine at the break.
 
Oklahoma State outscored West Virginia in the paint 34-14 and finished the night shooting 48%, hitting 25 of 52.
 
After its first-half shooting struggles, WVU shot 41% in the second half and finished the game hitting 19 of 52 for 36.5%.

"We had our chances," Huggins said. "We can't blame it on anybody but us."
 
The Mountaineers once again had issues at the free throw line, missing 11, including seven during a key stretch late in the game. WVU missed 18 free throws two nights ago.

Pat Suemnick got his first extended minutes of the season and contributed a basket and four rebounds in seven minutes of action.

"Pat played his tail off tonight," Huggins said.
 
WVU alum and Boston Celtics interim head coach Joe Mazzulla was at tonight's game along with Celtics guard Marcus Smart, an Oklahoma State alum. The first-place Celtics play the Oklahoma City Thunder tomorrow night in Oklahoma City.
 
West Virginia returns to the Coliseum to face No. 4 Kansas on Saturday in its Big 12 home opener. That game will tip off at 6 p.m. and will be televised on Big 12 Now on ESPN+. 

Original source can be found here