Texas Tech loses heartbreaker at Oklahoma State

STILLWATER, Oklahoma – 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. His previous career-highs came in both games against Baylor, including last Saturday where 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 was 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 where 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 0-5 in Big 12 road games with the loss. OSU improved to 11-2 at home.

GAME TRACKER & NOTES
Obanor, Washington, Tyson, Harmon and Walton started for the second straight game
Tech started the game on a 7-0 run after it won the tip and scored on its opening possession with a jumper from Harmon at the free-throw line… Obanor gave Tech a 5-0 lead with a 3-pointer on the second possession of the game… Harmon pushed the lead to 7-0 with another jumper before a Wright scored OSU’s first basket of the game
Obanor hit his second 3-pointer of the game to give Tech a 10-4 lead 2:30 into the game… Tech started the game 4-for-5 from the field with Obanor at 2-of-2 on 3s
OSU would take its first lead of the game at 14-13 after a Thompson 3-pointer at 13:44 to extend an 8-0 run… Obanor would stop the run with a putback to give him eight early points and Tech a 15-14 lead
OSU was on a 20-2 run (second 8-0 run) and led 23-15 with Quinon Williams making layup going into the second media timeout… The run was extended to 12-0 with Williams hitting two free throws for a nine-point lead and Thompson making a runner in the lane… Harmon stopped the run with a pair of free throws to make it a 26-17 game (9:21)
Obanor would get to 11 points with a layup and free-throw for a three-point play to cut the OSU lead to 26-20… It was his 107th time to get to double figures in his career
Tech responded with a run of its own with Tyson extending it with his first points of the game… Tyson’s basket was an alley-oop from Obanor where he was fouled and sent to the free-throw line for a three-point play to make it 26-23
Obanor pushed the run to 10-0 with two free throws, cutting a nine-point deficit to one with seven minutes remaining until halftime… Thompson stopped the run with a banked-in 3-pointer for OSU
Tyson hit his first 3-pointer of the game to make it a 29-28 game and give him six points… Tech and OSU were both 3-for-10 to start the game on 3-pointers
Jennings hit his first shot of the game to cut OSU’s lead to 33-30 coming out of the final media timeout of the first half… He was the fifth Red Raider to score in the game
Tyson hit a jumper to cut OSU’s lead to 36-34 with 25 seconds remaining in the half before a missed OSU 3-pointer by Boone ended the first half
OSU opened the first half on a 6-0 run before a Fisher layup started scoring for Tech nearly four minutes in… Tech started the second half shooting just 1-for-5 and went into the first media timeout of the second half down 43-36 (15:59)
Tyson got to 10 points with a jumper he banked in to cut OSU’s lead to 47-38 before a Williams fastbreak layup gave OSU a 39-38 lead and an Asberry 3-pointer pushed the deficit to 52-38 with 13:48 remaining… OSU had started the second half on a 16-4 run to take a 14-point lead into a Tech timeout (13:33)
Walton hit his first 3-pointer of the game to make it 52-41 before Harmon slashed to the basket for a layup and then a jumper to make it a seven-point game… Harmon’s back-to-back baskets made it a 7-0 run and a 52-45 game with 12 minutes remaining
Harmon pushed the run to 9-0 (six straight points by him) to make it 52-47 before a Williams putback gave OSU a 54-47 lead with 10:24 on the clock… Harmon was up to 12 points on 5-for-10 shooting going into the media timeout that followed
Obanor and Tyson scored on back-to-back trips down the court with tough inside shots to make it a 58-53 game with 7:48 remaining… Tyson would be called for his fourth foul 10 seconds later
Harmon drilled a 3-pointer to make it a 59-56 game with seven minutes to play and would drive in for a layup to cut it to 61-58 with five minutes remaining… Harmon had 17 points on 7-for-14 shooting in the game and had 11 of those points in the second half at that point
Tyson would cut it to 65-63 with an and-one with 2:18 remaining… The three-point play gave him 17 points and brought the game back to two for the first time since halftime
Tyson hit a 3-pointer with 59 seconds on the clock off an assist from Harmon to cut it to 67-66… It gave him a career-high 20 points at 8-for-16 shooting with a minute to play
Harmon tied the game at 68-68 with a left-handed layup with 18 seconds remaining after OSU had made one of two free throws on the other end… It gave Harmon 19 points – 13 in the second half… OSU advanced the ball and called timeout with 13 seconds remaining
Thompson missed a jumper but was followed by Wright who had a putback with less than a second remaining… He was fouled and made the free throw for a 71-68 lead with .8 on the clock

Release provided by WES BLOOMQUIST Texas Tech Athletics

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