Cowboys Lose on Last-Second Shot in Fort Worth

The Cowboys nearly stole a road win in Fort Worth, but the Horned Frogs stole the game right back at the final buzzer.

TCU beat Oklahoma State 73-72 on Wednesday night. The Cowboys’ first lead of the game came with 18 seconds left, but TCU guard Vasean Allette hit a turnaround 3-point jumper off a nearly three-quarter court inbound pass to give the Horned Frogs the win and make OSU 0-7 in Big 12 road games.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!@TCUBasketball with a MIRACLE! 🤯 pic.twitter.com/jSeFVzwS0i

— CBS Sports College Basketball 🏀 (@CBSSportsCBB) February 13, 2025

That bucket was on of two field goals the Horned Frogs made in the final six minutes of the game — adding to just how brutal that shot falling was.

To get to that point, OSU trailed 70-67 going into the final minute. Arturo Dean missed a bunny of a layup coming out of a timeout, but he made up for it on the ensuing TCU possession by ripping Noah Reynolds near the halfcourt line. Reynolds fouled Dean as he was falling to the ground. Dean missed both free throws, but Chi Chi Avery came up with a big offensive board, creating a possession that ended in a Brandon Newman layup to trim TCU’s lead to 70-69 with 23 seconds to play.

Newman puts us within one!

📺: CBS Sports Network pic.twitter.com/RTFqPJIzbA

— OSU Cowboy Basketball (@OSUMBB) February 13, 2025

Dean’s defensive presence again became a factor on TCU’s ensuing inbound pass. Dean hopped in the passing lane, and the ball deflected off TCU out of bounds. Dean then found Abou Ousmane in the lane for a big dunk to give the Pokes their first lead of the night.

OUSMANE DUNK FOR THE LEAD 😤

📺: CBS Sports Network pic.twitter.com/7UehXAvvZA

— OSU Cowboy Basketball (@OSUMBB) February 13, 2025

TCU’s next possession ended in a scrum in the paint, with the Horned Frogs missing an initial floater and a tip-in attempt. Newman popped out of the lane with the ball. He was fouled and split the free throws to set up TCU’s game winning shot.

In a lot of ways, Wednesday night’s game in Fort Worth felt like the Greek legend of Sisyphus. The Cowboys were constantly pushing the boulder up the hill just for it to roll back down.

OSU, again, started in a hole, as TCU jumped out to an 11-2 lead about four minutes in. Just about all of TCU’s points were coming right at the basket, as the Horned Frogs made four layups, a dunk and a free throw to start the game. The Cowboys overcame that, getting to within two in the final minute of the first half. But then a pair of TCU 3s in the final 36 seconds of the half allowed the Horned Frogs to go into the locker room with a 38-31 lead.

The Cowboys responded out of the break. An Avery 3 with 15:58 left cut TCU’s lead to 42-41 before the boulder started rolling back down the hill.

TCU went on a 10-2 run just for OSU to answer with a 10-0 run (the final six points of which came from Ousmane) to tie it at 55. The Horned Frogs scored the next six points, keeping the yo-yo battle going to the final whistle.

Both teams struggled to take care of the ball in the first half. The Cowboys went into the locker room with eight turnovers. Most of those came early. OSU had seven turnovers in the first 11 minutes and two in the final nine of the half. Those turnovers led to only four TCU points — another reason the Cowboys were able to hang around after the ugly start. TCU had seven first-half turnovers, and the Cowboys took better advantage, scoring seven points off those. The game finished with OSU scoring 25 of its points off 17 TCU turnovers while the Cowboys turned the ball over 14 times, leading to 11 points for the Horned Frogs.

Bryce Thompson scored a game-high 17 points on 11 shots. He also ripped down six boards and had three assists to only one turnover. His offense mixed with OSU getting to the foul line helped the Cowboys out of their slow start. OSU finished 18-for-24 from the charity stripe. Most college teams would take shooting 75% from the foul line, but the brutal reality is the Cowboys had half of their misses in the final 33 seconds.

Ousmane didn’t have a good start to the game, but he worked through it and played a big role late, finishing with 15 points, seven rebounds and a pair of blocks. He scored 13 of those points in the second half.

Dean had eight points, five assists and three timely steals.

The Cowboys return home for a game against Texas Tech at 2 p.m. Saturday in Gallagher-Iba Arena. The Cowboys and Red Raiders played Jan. 26 in Lubbock, a game Tech won 64-54.