BYU Basketball Takes Care of Oklahoma State on Senior Night

The Cougars used a dominant start to the second half to pull away from the Cowboys

Author:
Casey Lundquist
Publish date:
Mar 10, 2024 12:43 AM EST

On Saturday night, BYU hosted Oklahoma State on Senior night. The Cougars honored seniors Spencer Johnson, Jaxson Robinson, and Tredyn Christensen before the game. Both Johnson and Robinson scored in double digits in their final game at the Marriott Center. Johnson scored 14 points (all in the second half) and he added 10 rebounds and 5 assists. Jaxson Robinson had 17 points and 5 rebounds. Robinson was critical in the first half when BYU got off to a slow start offensively.

Robinson scored 10 out of BYU's 32 first half points. BYU took a 32-29 lead into the halftime break.

BYU started to pull away in the second half. BYU started the second half on a 13-0 run to extend the lead to 16. BYU pushed the lead to as high as 25 with 10 minutes left. Then Oklahoma State, and guard Javon Small in particular, went on a run. The Cowboys outscored BYU 20-5 over the next four minutes to cut the lead to 10 with 6:12 remaining.

BYU rode Fousseyni Traore the rest of the way. and maintained a double-digit lead. Traore finished as BYU's leading scorer with 19 points on 8/11 shooting.

Fousseyni Traore Oklahoma State — Credit: BYU Photo

BYU's three-point shooting came alive in the second half. After shooting just 4/19 in the first half (21%), BYU shot 8/12 from three (67%) in the second half.

Oklahoma State was led by junior guard Javon Small. Small had 34 points on 10/19 shooting. He was the only Cowboy that scored in double digits.

With the win, BYU improved to 10-8 in Big 12 play and secured the 5-seed for the conference tournament. The Cougars and the Cowboys could square off for a third time this season in just a few days. BYU will play the winner of Oklahoma State-UCF in the second round of the Big 12 tournament.