Instacap: Cowboys Overcome Sloppy Second Half to Win 79-63 over Austin Peay

Oklahoma State outlasted Austin Peay despite a second-half run by the Govs that dissolved a 21-point lead by the home team to single digits late.

Mike Boynton’s team is 6-1 and has beaten all the teams it was expected to beat so far, but this one wasn’t pretty towards the end. The Cowboys did well to keep this one from coming down to the wire.

The Cowboys jumped on the Governors early with a barrage of 3-pointers. Oklahoma State started 3 of 4 from beyond the arc, including 2 of 3 from Lindy Waters who had struggled through the first six games from deep (6 of 23 for 26.1 percent). Waters finished with 12 points on 4 of 7 shooting (2 of 4 from 3).

The Pokes were led by their preseason All-Big 12 selection Jeffrey Carroll, who is still coming off of the bench, with 17 points on 5-of-13 shooting (2 of 8 from 3). Clip chipped in five boards and three assists in 25 minutes.

Tavarius Shine scored 12 points, shooting 5 of 8 and 2 of 5 from 3 and Thomas Dziagwa continued his hot shooting streak with 11 points on 3 of 6 (3 of 5 from 3).

The Governors had two double-digit scorers — Dayton Gumm (19 on 7 of 14 and 3 of 6 from 3) and Terry Taylor (15 on 6 of 13 and 1 of 2 from deep).

OSU went into the half with a 21-point lead off of some crisp and balanced ball movement but came out sluggish and sloppy doubling their turnover count (five in the first five minutes of the second period). Austin Peay used its pressure man defense and the afforded opportunity to climb back within 11 with 14 minutes remaining, starting its second half on a 14-4 run.

It really was a tale of two halves. Oklahoma State scored 47 points in the opening frame shooting 51.5 percent from the field and 9 of 21 (42.9 percent) from 3. But OSU struggled to score for big stretches of the second half, shooting 45.8 percent from the field but just 2 of 6 from beyond the arc (33.3 percent).

The Cowboys, who moved the ball with fluidity and purpose for most of the first half, were mostly forced out of their offense in the second. Four first-half turnovers gave way to 13 giveaways in the second. But the Cowboys were able to hold on and outscore the Govs 19-11 over the last nine minutes.

I feel like we are finally getting a baseline read on what this team’s identity is. The plan, at least, is for a similar defensive system to what Brad Underwood tried to implement early on last season with its pressure and trying to take advantage of it length and athleticism on the perimeter. It has shown the propensity to get beat deep (sounds like the Cowboy secondary) and that risk will just increase once Big 12 play and step up in competition arrive.

Next up, the Cowboys welcome Missouri Valley State on Sunday at 2 p.m.