De’Vion Harmon tied it with 18 seconds remaining. Oklahoma State won it with a 0.8-second putback.
Down as many as 14 in the second half, Texas Tech fought back but fell 71-68 when John-Michael Wright followed a miss with an offensive rebound, putback, and free throw as the Cowboys survived the comeback attempt on Wednesday at Gallagher-Iba Arena.
“I was proud of the way our guys played,” Tech coach Mark Adams said. “The last shot is usually not the one that is going to beat you. It’s the rebound. That was our message the entire game. They are a very good rebounding team, especially on the offensive boards. When they get those, they put them back. We have to get better at blocking out and not turning the ball over.”
The Red Raiders (12-12, 1-10 Big 12) return to Lubbock with two home games next up on the schedule, first against No. 12 Kansas State at 6 p.m. on Saturday before hosting No. 5 Texas at 8 p.m. on Monday inside the United Supermarkets Arena. The Red Raiders are currently 9-4 overall at home and 1-4 on their home court in conference play. OSU (15-9, 6-5 Big 12) has now won four in a row going into a road game at No. 11 Iowa State on Saturday in Ames.
Jaylon Tyson led Tech with a career-high 20 points, while Harmon finished with 19 points and Kevin Obanor added 15. Harmon scored 13 of his 19 points in the second half, including driving to the basket for a layup to tie the game at 68-68 with 18 seconds to play. The shot tied the game for the first time since the first half before a sequence on the other end where Bryce Thompson missed a jumper before Wright crashed the boards and put in the game-winner. OSU finished with a 12-8 advantage on second-chance points – highlighted by the final play.
“Elijah played great defense on Bryson,” Harmon said. “It was a contested midrange jump shot and we just missed the back-side rebound, unfortunately. We can’t hold our heads down… I’m proud of the guys. We battled.”
Tyson finished the game 8-for-16 from the field with two 3-pointers and also finished with four rebounds, two assists, and two steals. He scored 12 of his 20 points in the second half, including hitting a 3-pointer to make it a 67-66 game with one minute remaining. His previous career-highs came in both games against Baylor, most recently last Saturday when he had a double-double with 10 rebounds to go along with his 19 points. Harmon was 8-for-15 on the night to go along with adding five rebounds and two assists. Elijah Fisher led the Tech bench with six points and three rebounds, while Kerwin Walton and Daniel Batcho had three points each. Tech finished the game shooting 26-for-56 (46.4 percent) from the field, 6-for-18 on 3-pointers, and 10-of-11 from the free-throw line.
OSU survived a night where it went 14-for-24 at the free-throw line after owning a 36-31 rebounding advantage, forcing 16 turnovers and owning a 36-30 scoring margin in the paint. Thompson led the Cowboys with 21 points that all came in the first half. He started the game 9-for-9 from the field before missing his final seven shots, including the midrange jumper as time was expiring. Wright had five points before the final play to take his game total to eight points, while Kalib Boone had nine points and nine rebounds. Quion Williams led the OSU bench with 10 points and four rebounds while Woody Newton and Caleb Asberry had seven each from the starting lineup.
The Cowboys finished the game with a 14-8 offensive rebounding advantage, led by Williams who had three.
OSU took a 36-34 lead into halftime in a half where Tech led by as many as seven and the Cowboys led by as many as 11. There were three first-half lead changes. Obanor led Tech with 13 points after going 4-for-6 from the field, 2-of-3 on 3-pointers, and 3-for-3 at the free-throw line. He also led Tech with five rebounds. Tyson added eight points, while Harmon had six and Batcho had three. The Red Raiders were 12-for-29 from the field and 3-for-10 on 3-pointers in the first half whereas OSU went 14-for-29 from the field and was 3-for-12 on 3-pointers. Thompson led OSU with 21 points at halftime after going 9-for-12 from the field with three 3-pointers. He had started the half going 9-for-9 from the field and hitting his first three 3-pointers. Boone led OSU with four rebounds but was held scoreless in the first half after coming into the game leading the team with 12.2 points per game. OSU had a 16-14 scoring advantage in the paint and a 17-15 rebounding lead after 20 minutes.
Tech fell to 1-6 overall on the road and to 0-6 in Big 12 road games with the loss. OSU improved to 11-2 at home.
