Parsa Fallah’s Injury in Final Seconds Stuns Crowd in Cowboys’ Overtime Win Over WVU

STILLWATER — Oklahoma State was 5.5 seconds away from snapping a five-game losing streak when big man Parsa Fallah dunked the ball on a fast-break to put the exclamation point on the overtime victory.

He reached for his knee on the way down and hit the court hard. Fallah slapped the ground numerous times as the rest of Gallagher-Iba Arena went silent for what felt like an eternity before individual fans began yelling encouragement for the big man that has served as the driving force of Cowboy basketball this season.

After a lengthy stretch, Fallah was later wheeled out of Gallagher-Iba Arena while his teammates waited on the final seconds to tick off in the 91-84 overtime win over West Virginia.

Fallah finished the game with a team-high 18 points and eight rebounds. He ranks second on the team in scoring averaging 14.7 points per game and a team-best six rebounds this season.

Before the injury soured the mood, Jaylen Curry seemed poised to finish as a hero in a night worth celebrating.

He wasn’t the Cowboy many fans would have expected, or wanted, shooting a pivotal 3-pointer for most of the season, but with less than two minutes remaining, Curry was the one high-fiving a beaming Steve Lutz after he drained a 3-point shot that put Oklahoma State up by seven over West Virginia.

Although it came at a critical juncture, that moment wasn’t an outlier for Curry. He seemed unable to miss almost all night despite taking a handful of tough shots. The junior finished 5-of-6 overall including a 3-of-3 showing behind the arc which tied his season-high mark from distance.

Prior to Tuesday night, Curry was the least accurate 3-point shooter on the team to attempt 40-plus shots after going 16-of-58 (27.6%). Curry finished with 15 total points marking his best scoring night since he scored 18 in an upset of BYU on Feb. 4.

The win snaps a five-game losing streak for Oklahoma State (17-11, 5-10 Big 12) and redeems what appeared to be another woulda, coulda, shoulda loss after the Cowboys blew a 14-point second-half lead with just under 11 minutes to play.

Junior Kanye Clary seemed especially motivated to right the ship. He knocked down his first 3-pointer of the game within a minute of West Virginia’s first second-half lead. Clary followed that up with two more 3-pointers, tying his season-high in 3-pointers, and finished with 17 total points putting him even only two points shy of his season-high mark set on Jan. 24th against Iowa State.

Clary’s third 3-pointer gave OSU a five point lead with 3:06 to play in regulation. That shot came after a particularly impactful sequence by Fallah that saw the big man drain a 3 on one end of the court before blocking a shot and coming down casually with the ball after the fact.