Cowboys lose to Sooners, 84-82
STILLWATER — Javian McCollum made a three-pointer as time expired to give visiting Oklahoma a dramatic 84-82 overtime victory over Oklahoma State in the last Big 12 era installment of the Bedlam Series.
Quion Williams, Javon Small and Eric Dailey Jr. all topped 20 points for the Cowboys (12-5, 4-10 Big 12), who fell despite a 57.4% shooting performance.
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OSU will look to bounce back Wednesday night at home against the UCF Knights (7 p.m., ESPN+).
Williams had a career-high 21 points on 8-of-13 shooting and grabbed eight rebounds.
Dailey made 8-of-10 shots on the way to his personal-best 20 points. The 6-8 freshman clocked 35 minutes – the majority of them at center after starter Brandon Garrison found himself in foul trouble – and finished with nine rebounds and four assists.
Small added 21 points on 10-of-16 shooting.
It was the first time since Feb. 18, 2017 (another Bedlam matchup at Gallagher-Iba Arena) that a trio of Cowboys have all reached the 20-point plateau in the same game.
Rivaldo Soares had 20 points of his own to lead a group of five Sooners in double-figures.
Oklahoma (19-8, 7-7) led for less than five minutes but came out on top when McCollum – with his team trailing 82-81 — dribbled out the last 12 seconds of overtime before launching a step back three from far corner just before time expired.
It was the first true buzzer beater (no time left on the clock) in a Bedlam Series matchup in the 50-years that OSU has tracked play-by-play in box scores.
OU made just over half of its field goal attempts (35-of-69, .507), including 23-of-36 (.639) after halftime to erase OSU’s 38-30 lead at the midway point.
The Cowboys were 19-of-28 from the field in the final 25 minutes (.679) and committed just four turnovers but had difficulty generating stops with Garrison off the floor. The freshman big man was whistled for his fourth personal foul with 9:36 to go and fouled out with 59 seconds to play in regulation.
OU outscored OSU 15-4 on second-chance opportunities after halftime grabbing just over half of its own misses in that span (8 of 15).
Yet the Cowboys still found themselves in position to win it near the end of regulation.
Small’s layup tied the game at 72 with 41 seconds left.
OU’s McCollum missed a layup on the opposite end giving the OSU 14 seconds to set up a potential game-winning basket.
Small was fouled on his way to the hoop with 4.3 seconds showing but missed the front end of a 1-and-1 opportunity. All but 0.6 seconds ticked away during a fight for the rebound.
Following a lengthy video review, OSU was awarded possession, but Jarius Hicklen’s rushed three was offline.
OU won the overtime tip and scored on its first four possessions.
So did the Cowboys.
John-Michael Wright hit a go-ahead three with 1:27 to play to give OSU an 82-21 lead.
Dailey forced a steal but OSU was unable to capitalize, missing two shots on its final possession.
OU grabbed a rebound with 21 seconds left and called timeout with 12.5 to go, setting up McCollum’s heroics.
