Cowboys Fall 85-69 to BYU in Provo

BOX SCORE

An early second-half scoring flurry wasn’t enough for the Cowboys to dig themselves out of the hole they were in during the first half.

Oklahoma State fell to BYU 85-69 on Tuesday night in Provo. The Cowboys had another cold start on the offensive end that saw them trail by as many as 27 in the first half.

OSU stormed back at the start of the second half, scoring 22 of the half’s first 27 points. Jamyron Keller scored 11 of those, hitting a trio of triples. Bryce Thompson also chipped in six during that stretch. Thompson hit a free throw with 13:23 to play to cut the Cougars’ lead down to three points. But BYU heated back up from there, ripping off an 11-2 run to push their lead back to a dozen, where it hovered for the remainder of the evening.

OSU scored 26 points on 26% shooting in the first half. It felt like a replay of the Cowboys’ loss in Salt Lake City this past weekend, where OSU scored 26 points on 24% shooting.

The Pokes got a spark toward the end of the half from a pair of unlikely sources: Connor Dow and walk-on Tyler Caron. Those two paired up to score eight consecutive points with each hitting a 3. They finished the first half with three of the Cowboys’ eight makes. Before that 9-0 run that Dow and Caron captained, the Cowboys were down 42-15 while shooting 17% from the field. It was just the seventh game Dow, a sophomore from Broken Arrow, has played in this season. Caron, a graduate student who spent time at Division-II St. Mary’s in Texas, had played in only two games entering Tuesday.

Slow starts have followed the Cowboys through the early part of this conference season. OSU has shot above 30% in the first half just once in Big 12 play — the Cowboys’ win against Kansas State.

Thompson and Keller each finished with 15 points to lead the Cowboys. Thompson scored all of his in the second half after playing just seven minutes in the first because of foul trouble. Thompson looked aggressive when he got back on the floor, scoring on a nice backdoor cut before hitting a patented elbow jumper. Keller, who had a breakout performance against BYU last season, went 4-for-6 from 3 on the night. Abou Ousmane also scored in double figures, putting up 13 points on eight shots while also grabbing a team-high seven rebounds.

After shooting so poorly to start, OSU recovered to finish at 41% from the field and 38% from 3 on the night.

The game had some chippy moments with technical and flagrant fouls being assessed on both sides. It sort of felt like it turned into a game of, “Well, you called it on that end, so now you have to on this end,” when it came to the techs and flagrants, which seemed to further frustrate both teams. There were a combined 50 free throws attempted, with OSU going 15-for-23 (65%) and BYU going 19-for-27 (70%).

The loss puts the Cowboys at 9-7 on the season and 1-4 in Big 12 play. After two tough games in the Beehive State, OSU returns to the confines of Gallagher-Iba Arena where the Pokes will host Colorado at 2 p.m. Saturday. The Buffaloes are 9-6 this season entering a Wednesday night matchup with Cincinnati. Colorado is still in search of its first conference win.