Stillwater, OK – Marcus Smart and Le'Bryan Nash scored 28 and 26 points, respectively, and No. 17 Oklahoma State escaped with an 84-79 overtime victory over Oklahoma on Saturday.
Markel Brown had 14 points, six rebounds, three assists and three steals for the Cowboys (19-5, 9-3 Big 12), who have won seven straight games.
"I'm so proud of our basketball team," said Oklahoma State head coach Travis Ford. "I've got a lot of respect for Oklahoma as well. They're a very well coached, very good basketball team. I thought that our kids showed a lot of heart."
Romero Osby, Steven Pledger and Sam Grooms scored 18 points apiece for the Sooners (16-8, 7-5), who came in looking to expand on a two-game winning streak. Osby also had a game-high 15 rebounds.
"It's a tough loss, sure, but a really good basketball game," said Oklahoma head coach Lon Kruger. "I thought guys on both teams played their hearts out. It was a big-time battle from start to finish. Guys on both teams made a lot of big-time plays. Defense was having a tough time getting stops. I'm proud of our guys. Disappointed in not finishing it, but we got beat by a really good Oklahoma State ball club. We'll grow from this. We've got to keep making progress. There's a lot of the season left, and we'll keep getting better. I'm proud of our guys. They'll bounce back from this."
Osby's jumper with 3:27 to play in overtime gave the Sooners a 75-73 lead. However, Nash dunked the ball to tie the game with 2:19 left.
Grooms fired a jumper to give the Sooners the lead, but Nash would not be undeterred, making a three-point play to give Oklahoma State a 78-77 edge with 1:37 left.
Andrew Fitzgerald then made two free throws for Oklahoma to retake the lead, only for Nash to answer once again with another dunk to give the Cowboys a 80-79 advantage.
The Sooners were unable to respond. Brown stole the ball off Grooms, which led to a fast break layup by Mike Cobbins. Smart then forced a turnover off Steven Pledger and made two free throws to seal the victory.
Oklahoma State had an 11-point lead around the midway point of the first half, but an 11-2 by the Sooners made it a 21-21 contest with 5:40 left to play. Then, down 27-26 with 2:50 remaining, Oklahoma had an 9-0 run to finish the half with a 35-27 margin.
Oklahoma extended its lead to 45-34 with 17:31 to go in the second half.
The Cowboys clawed their way back though, outscoring Oklahoma 22-11, and tied the game with 9:44 remaining. Osby made a free throw to give his team a 57-56 edge, but the Cowboys remained close behind.
A steal and a layup by Phil Forte tied the game at 69-69 with 2:17 left to go. Romero answered back with a layup of his own to retake the lead, but Smart's jumper tied the game once more with 1:34 remaining. Osby's jumper put them up again, but Smart made two free throws to tie the game at 73-73 with 41 seconds left in regulation.
Osby missed a jumper with 10 seconds left and Smart missed one at the buzzer to send the game into overtime.
Game Notes
Oklahoma State has won four straight games against Oklahoma at home ... The Sooners shot 47.5 percent from the floor compared to 43.5 percent from the Cowboys.
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