Oklahoma State Earns Tight Win at SMU to Advance to NIT Quarterfinals

Oklahoma State stayed alive with its first road win since December.

OSU beat SMU 85-83 in the second round of the NIT in Dallas. After losing every road game in Big 12 play, the Cowboys stepped up with their season on the line and added at least one more game to their schedule.

With the game tied at 81, OSU found Abou Ousmane in the post, and he nailed a hook shot with 33.5 seconds left. On the ensuing possession for SMU, it had multiple offensive rebounds before Samet Yigitoglu was fouled on his putback attempt. He missed both free throws, and Bryce Thompson was fouled on the rebound, but he was only able to split the pair to keep it a one-possession game.

OSU didn’t allow SMU to get up a 3-pointer and fouled Chuck Harris before he could get into his shooting motion. Harris hit both, forcing SMU to play the foul game. SMU finally fouled Robert Jennings with 3.6 seconds left and sent him to the line. He missed the first but made the second to put OSU up two. SMU turned it over on the inbound, and OSU secured a win.

A 9-1 run helped OSU turn a three-point deficit into a five-point lead with just under six minutes remaining, but SMU quickly responded. The Mustangs used a few easy buckets and stops to regain the lead as the teams once again began to trade leads.

After OSU lost its double-digit first-half lead and entered halftime trailing by one, the game took on a true back-and-forth flow. With various lead changes throughout the second half, neither team led by more than five at any point after halftime.

Bryce Thompson was dominant in the first half for the Cowboys, but the starting frontcourt began to make a difference in the second half. Ousmane and Jennings combined for 18 points in the second half, and both had their moments for OSU.

Thompson’s big performances have been commonplace over the final few weeks of his career, and he came out firing in the first half. Looking to get at least one more game in his career, Thompson scored 17 points on 8-of-11 shooting before halftime, but OSU still trailed 41-40 at the break.

A major reason for OSU’s deficit at halftime was SMU’s Kario Oquendo, who had 26 points on 9-of-9 shooting in the first half, including five 3-pointers. With the rest of the Mustangs shooting 4-of-19 before halftime, his performance was key to putting SMU in front.

While Thompson sparked OSU’s first-half performance, he was part of a team-wide attack that helped the Cowboys jump out to a 14-point lead over the first quarter of the game. A 15-2 run gave OSU its 26-12 advantage before the Mustangs began to climb back into the game and used a 12-0 run to tie the game in the final minutes of the half and eventually grabbed the lead.