For the second time in six days, Oklahoma State did enough down the stretch to get past West Virginia.
The 12th-ranked Cowboys led by 10 with 6 minutes to play, before holding on to defeat the 10th-ranked Mountaineers 72-69 in Thursday’s Big 12 Tournament quarterfinal at T-Mobile Center.
Isaac Likekele blocked Taz Sherman’s tying three-point attempt in the final seconds, but the fourth-seeded Mountaineers (18-9) still had a chance when Derek Culver got the offensive rebound. Culver passed to Sean McNeil, who pump-faked as the Cowboys’ Bryce Williams jumped by him. But Williams caused McNeil to possess the ball for too long and his tying shot came after the buzzer had sounded.
“We ran the same set three straight times and we had their defense really shifted to Taz’s side,” said WVU coach Bob Huggins, who remains on 899 career wins. “I was trying to get Deuce (McBride) to hear me to take it to Taz and swing it back to Sean.
“He thought Taz was open and Taz thought he was open. They got a piece of the ball, but we get it back and throw it back out and you think Sean’s wide open and that guy comes flying from nowhere. Sean had to pump-fake him so he could get his shot off. It ended up being a second or less too late.”
It gave Oklahoma State (19-7) a second straight win over the Mountaineers after a short-handed OSU team was victorious in Morgantown last Saturday, 85-80.
This time, the No. 5 seed Cowboys had Big 12 player of the year Cade Cunningham and Likekele in the lineup and they overcame a six-point halftime deficit to advance.
Williams’ three-pointer with 12:26 remaining cut the OSU deficit to 49-44 and began a game-changing 21-3 run for the Cowboys.
Cunningham’s triple at the 10:12 mark allowed the Cowboys to lead for the first time in the second half, 51-50. After five straight points from Avery Anderson and Cunningham’s basket in the paint, WVU’s deficit was 62-52 with 6:18 to play.
“We gave them too many chances and easy opportunities during that stretch and then we have to fight like crazy to get back in the game,” Huggins said.
The Mountaineers had only one field goal — an Emmitt Matthews Jr. jumper — in more than 7 minutes after leading 49-41.
“We were careless with the ball at times, including me,” Sherman said. “I don’t think they really did anything different. It was more on us and what we didn’t do to prevent the turnovers.”
But Sherman got hot and hit a pair of threes, which combined with his layup off a steal, pulled West Virginia to within 65-64.
“We’d been there before down double digits,” Sherman said. “Nothing different was said. We knew what we had to fix and it was easily fixable. We got to our spots better and ran better offense.”
Sherman’s next three put WVU on top 69-68 with 1:15 left, but Anderson drove in for an easy layup to put Oklahoma State back on top with 54 seconds.
After McBride missed a potential go-ahead jumper, West Virginia forced a turnover, but Matthews Jr. missed from close range with a chance to put West Virginia ahead.
Likekele then made two free throws to give OSU a three-point edge ahead of the final sequence.
The Cowboys held a 45-32 rebounding advantage, including 25-16 after halftime.
“Throughout the game, we missed blockout assignments and us as guards, we have to make sure we don’t leak out and we go help the bigs,” McBride said. “It can’t be one guy rebounding against four other guys.”
WVU center Derek Culver battled through illness and played 30 minutes, finishing with 11 points and nine rebounds. Culver didn’t start the second half and could be seen on the broadcast indicating he had received IV fluids at halftime.
With Culver not at full strength and Gabe Osabuohein limited to 8 minutes before eventually fouling out, the Mountaineers couldn’t keep up with the Cowboys on the glass.
“Derek showed a lot of courage,” Huggins said. “He was having a hard time walking, much less running up and down the floor. And he had the one flurry that got us back in the game. Seny (Ndiaye) is not ready and we knew he wasn’t ready. I don’t want to get into what could’ve beens, but when you lose a 6-11 guy (Isaiah Cottrell) who was your most skilled big, it hurts your depth. We’re playing (Jalen Bridges) at the four and he’s not a four. He’s a wing guy.”
West Virginia’s best stretch came over the final 3:38 of the opening half when it turned a three-point deficit into a 36-30 halftime lead. McBride scored seven of the Mountaineers’ 11 points during the spurt, including two field goals at the rim in the final 12 seconds of the half off steals.
The Mountaineers also applied more ball pressure than usual away from the basket throughout the opening half, helping lead to 13 OSU turnovers.
McBride and Sherman scored 19 points apiece.
Cunningham and Anderson led OSU with 17 points each, while Kalib Boone had a game-best 10 rebounds. Cunningham also added eight rebounds in his return from a one-game absence for an ankle injury.