LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – Shaq Goodwin helped make sure the outcome for Memphis and Tigers coach Josh Pastner was different than the first matchup this season against Oklahoma State.
Goodwin had 17 points, Joe Jackson hit four key free throws late and No. 21 Memphis beat No. 5 Oklahoma State 73-68 Sunday night in the championship game of the Old Spice Classic.
"Of course we wanted it for him," Goodwin said. "I hate to say that we wanted to prove people wrong, but it just felt good to give my head coach a top-five win. It just feels good when you make him feel good."
Memphis (5-1) held Oklahoma State preseason All-American Marcus Smart to 12 points. Smart, who played with virus-like stomach symptoms, went 4 for 13 from the field and had five turnovers.
"That's definitely not an excuse," Smart said. "They did an excellent job executing their scouting report. I couldn't find a groove out there."
In the earlier meeting this season between the Top 25 teams on Nov. 19, Oklahoma State (7-1) won handily over Memphis, getting 39 points from Smart in a 101-80 victory.
"I'm not a revenge guy," Pastner said. "I'm not like an ill-will guy. I think when you hold things in, things come out sideways. I talked to our guys about that. We needed to have course correction, and we corrected some of the course."
Smart turned the ball over with Oklahoma State trailing by one with 11 seconds left, and fouled Jackson, who made two free throws to make it 71-68.
Oklahoma State's bid to tie it ended when Smart had another turnover in the final seconds and Jackson connected on two more free throws.
"They deserved to win, we didn't deserve to win," Oklahoma State coach Travis Ford said. "We just weren't ourselves. Not taking anything away from Memphis at all, but we were our own worst enemy on a lot of occasions. I'm a little surprised that it was even, as bad as we played, as close as it was. Give Memphis credit, they were a very determined basketball team."
Chris Crawford scored on a layup and later added a free throw to put Memphis up 69-64 with 2½ minutes left. Smart, who missed 9 of his first 11 shots, had consecutive baskets that pulled the Cowboys within 69-68 with 2 minutes to play.
Crawford finished with 16 points, while Jackson had 11.
Michael Dixon Jr. hit a jumper and 3-pointer as Memphis went ahead 56-52 with 8 minutes remaining.
Memphis scored the first seven points in the second half, including a 3-point play by Goodwin, to cut its deficit to 42-39.
After Memphis' Geron Johnson was given a technical foul, Phil Forte made two free throws and added a 3-pointer to make it 47-39.
Forte had nine of 19 points as Oklahoma overcame a six-point deficit to take a 42-32 lead at halftime. Smart had two of his five points during the opening 20 minutes on a layup and Brian Williams had a rebound basket during the final minute to give the Cowboys a 10-point advantage.
Oklahoma State saw comfortable leads disappear in both of its two previous games at the tourney. The Cowboys let a 23-point halftime lead dwindle to four with 3 minutes to play before beating Purdue 97-87 Thursday, and then escaped with a 69-67 victory over Butler one day later after taking a 44-30 halftime advantage.
Goodwin scored 11 first-half points, including a jumper that put Memphis up 21-15 10 minutes into the game.
Fox News First
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox.
By entering your email and clicking the Subscribe button, you agree to the Fox News Privacy Policy and Terms of Use, and agree to receive content and promotional communications from Fox News. You understand that you can opt-out at any time.