Instacap: Oklahoma State Falls to UCF 83-70

BOXSCORE

The Cowboys faced the Big 12’s best scorer, but it was another Knight that torched them on Orlando.

Oklahoma State fell to UCF 83-70 on “Senior Knight” in their first trip to Addition Financial Arena. The Cowboys will end the season without a conference road win.

When these teams met in Stillwater a couple weeks ago, they combined for 199 points and the Cowboys scored 53 in the first half. The 104 points the Pokes finished with were the most by an OSU team since 2016. Points were much harder to come by in this one for pretty much everyone but UCF senior guard Darius Johnson. It was a back-and-forth for the first 30 minutes or so until Johnson caught fire, and the Knights were able to ride that momentum to the end.

It was a herky-jerky offensive performance by both teams in the first half.

The Cowboys built a seven-point lead midway through the first half. OSU started 3-for-6 from 3 while the Knights were 1-for-7 from deep, but things swinged back the other way, a constant theme for the game. When the Cowboys cooled off, the Knights heated up. UCF rattled off nine straight points to take an 18-16 lead. OSU missed six straight shots over the course of 4:35 while UCF made five straight shots to go up 22-18.

The Cowboys somehow were able to stay within four, and then Brandon Newman pried the lock off  the basket making his third 3-pointer. The Cowboys followed with their own 7-0 run. UCF went through a stretch of six missed shots over five minutes. OSU took a 45-35 at the half, going into the locker room making six of nine.

It was more back-and-forth in the second. OSU charged ahead to a 47-37 lead before UCF put together and 8-0 run to pull within 47-45. The teams traded body blows for a bit before the Knights went on a 10-0 run to go up 62-54 midway through the second, their biggest lead to that point. That turned into a 17-2 run that put UCF up 69-56 with 6:41 to go, and the Cowboys never really regained a foothold. If it tells you anything, OSU’s leading scorer didn’t make a bucket in the second half. The Knights had the momentum, the home crowd and all-time performance those UCF fans won’t forget anytime soon.

After scoring 34 points in GIA, Keyshawn Hall, the Big 12’s leading scorer, looked a bit pedestrian by his standards. He finished with 18 points but did so on just 4-of-13 shooting and 0-for-4 from 3. But the second half belonged to Darius Johnson.

In this day and age in college hoops, for a player to spend all four years at one school is a rarity. Darius Johnson turned in the best game of his career in his final home game as a Knight, pouring in 36 points (27 after halftime) on 10-of-18 shooting. He was 7-for-12 from 3. (His previous career high was 33).

One Cowboy will be itching to replicate that type of performance in his upcoming GIA finale. Bryce Thompson scored a career-high 25 points when he and the Cowboys hosted UCF in Stillwater, but he didn’t make his first shot until the 12:04 mark in the second half in Orlando — and it was only the second attempt by OSU’s leading scorer. He finished with four points and was 2-for-6.

Brandon Newman had his highest scoring conference game of the season at halftime, but didn’t score again. He scored 13 and was 3-for-4 and 3-for-3 from 3 at the break, but went 0-for-3 in 14 second-half minutes. Arturo Dean added 11 points, six rebounds and seven assists to just two turnovers. He added four steals. Jamyron Keller and Abou Ousmane each pitched in 11.

With the loss, the Cowboys fall to 14-16 and 6-13 in Big 12 play. They will return home to cap their regular season against Cincinnati. The Cowboys and Bearcats tip off at 2 p.m. Saturday for Senior Day inside Gallagher-Iba Arena.