Cowboys' Skid Continues, Fall 89-82 to Iowa State

Oklahoma State drops to 0-6 in Big 12 play as they lose to Iowa State 89-82 in Ames.

STILLWATER – Oklahoma State mounted a late comeback against Iowa State, but the Cyclones were able to hold on as the Pokes fell 89-82. They’ve now lost 13 of the last 15 games to Iowa State.

The Cowboys fall to 9-9 on the season and are 0-6 in Big 12 conference play.

Senior Lindy Waters led the way for the Pokes with 14 points on 5-of-11 shooting from the field, 3-of-7 from 3-point range. He also hauled in six rebounds, had three assists and two steals.

He was one of six Cowboys in double digit points joining Thomas Dziagwa (14) Avery Anderson III, Cameron McGriff and Isaac Likekele with 12 points and Jonathan Laurent with 13 points, an OSU career-high for him.

Mike Boynton and Co. is going to have to figure out what’s going on with Yor Anei as he finished the game in foul trouble, four, with just two points on 1-of-4 shooting with zero rebounds in just 10 minutes of action. His two points came with less than four minutes to go in the ball game.

It was a tough battle for Oklahoma State from the jump as Iowa State was electric from 3-point range and on the defensive end. Iowa State finished with 11 made 3-pointers, their largest amount in Big 12 play and the most since Dec. 22. They also outrebounded the Pokes 39-30, with 32 coming on the defensive end.

For the first time since Feb. 2018, Iowa State finished a game with three players scoring at least 20 points, Tyrese Haliburton (20), Rasir Bolton (21) and Solomon Young (27). The 27 points for Young marks a career-high.

“It started with us not being dialed in to [Rasir] Bolton early, he got three really good looks to start the game,” coach Boynton said on the Cowboy Radio Network. “Really good players, if they get confidence early, it’s hard to get them back under control. We never got [Bolton] back under control. Then, you’ve got to shift your attention away from Haliburton, and then he gets going. But I thought the difference was Solomon Young. He gave them another element inside that we just didn’t have an answer for. We tried zone, we tried man, we tried different matchups in there and he kicked everybody’s butt.”

The Cowboys did however for 19 ISU turnovers, a season-high in turnovers for the Cyclones. On the other end, Oklahoma State turned the ball over eight times, the fewest for the Pokes on the season.

The Cowboys made a run late as they were down 15 points with 5:01 left in the game. The Pokes would then go on an 18-8 run from that point and cut the Cyclones’ lead down to just five-points as Likekele bullied his way into the paint and was fouled, giving him an and-one situation with :46 left, but he missed the free throw.

“We’ve got good kids,” coach Boynton said on the Cowboy Radio Network. “They want to respond; they mostly do respond. The challenge is that we need to start better and not put ourselves in situations where we have to come back all the time because that puts an awful lot of pressure on you. Then, you start making mistakes out of over-aggression and we made quite a few of those after getting down double digits. So, we’ve got to a way to get a better start to the game and play with more flow throughout.”

That was the closest the Pokes would get as ISU would push their lead back to nine before finishing with a seven-point lead.

Not to sound like a broken record, but once Oklahoma State synchs up their offensive and defensive performances, the Pokes are going to be dangerous.

Oklahoma State is back in action this coming Saturday, Jan. 25 as they travel down to College Station, TX for a Big 12/SEC Challenge against Texas A&M. Tipoff is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. on ESPNU.