Oklahoma State Secures First Big 12 Win Behind Dominant Performances from Fallah, Clary

STILLWATER — Oklahoma State took a moment before the game to celebrate Parsa Fallah for hitting 1,000 career points over the weekend against Texas Tech.

It was far from the last time the home crowd cheered for the 6-10, 250-pound forward on Tuesday night as he scored a game-high 24 points in the 87-76 win over a No. 25 UCF team that had one prior loss suffered way back on Nov. 8 to Vanderbilt.

“He’s a throwback to, you know, the era where the game was played like that with big guys,” UCF coach Johnny Dawkins said. “And I’m glad to see, you know, players still, you know, embracing some of that. As you know, most players these days, everything is a five out and around the perimeter. But he has ability to step outside and shoot, of course, but he knows where he’s where he’s really effective at, and he goes to work.”

When he heard this, OSU coach Steve Lutz couldn’t help but crack a joke at the expense of the 23-year-old Fallah.

“I have a question, was he referring to his age,” Lutz joked.

Fallah has now scored 20-plus points in three of his last four games, excluding Bedlam when he left early due to an existing injury.

Fallah didn’t take long to get going on Tuesday, scoring the first points of the game off a layup. At the break, the senior led all scorers with 16 points after shooting 5-of-6 from the floor with one made 3. The next closest scorer at the time was teammate Anthony Roy, who added eight points thanks largely to a pair of 3-point shots.

Back-to-back UCF 3s with two minutes to play threatened to stun the Cowboys (12-2, 1-1 Big 12) as UCF cut the deficit to nine points, but Roy delivered a 3-point shot and a free throw to give OSU just enough breathing room to survive the comeback attempt and secure Oklahoma State’s first ranked win since upsetting then-No. 9 Iowa State at home on Feb. 25.

Those 3s by UCF proved to be something of an outlier as the Knights shot 21%, making only seven 3s. That proved to be one of the game’s biggest discrepancies as the Cowboys shot 53% resulting in 10 made 3-pointers.

Kanye Clary flirted with his first career triple-double after finishing tying his season-high with 18 points, grabbed a career-high nine rebounds and added eight assists.

Clary was a big reason the Cowboys stayed in front of UCF down the stretch as he scored 15 of his points after the break and 10 of them in the final 11 minutes. Prior to Tuesday, Clary shot 24% from beyond the arc across his career, but he finished with a season-high attempts (six) and makes (three) to end the night shooting 50% in the win.

Vyctorius Miller (13 points) and Roy (15) also finished in double figures for the Pokes.

UCF ranked 32 in the NET, putting the Knights just two spots below Quadrant 1 status. That means, barring a complete collapse by them in conference play, this win should remain a Quadrant 2 victory or perhaps even inch its way up to Q1 status later this season for the Cowboys.

Coming into Tuesday’s contest, Oklahoma State’s only losses came in its only Q1 games this season, which as of Saturday included a 22-point loss as No. 15 Texas Tech. Getting a few of those wins could prove critical come selection time.

“I expected us to compete better (at Texas Tech), and I thought that the competitive side of our basketball game was much better,” Lutz said. “And anytime we can do that I think we are going to give ourselves an opportunity, but guys you take every win in the Big 12 that you can get.

“Gotta win them all at home as the old adage says and split on the road. But man take every win you can get and keep stacking them up so at the end of the year the selection committee makes sure you’re on the right side of the bubble.”