Oklahoma State outlasts Horns in overtime 65-63, as Texas drops fourth straight
By Steve Habel/Senior Editor
AUSTIN – Oklahoma State’s Phil Forte III converted two free throws with 2.1 seconds remaining in overtime to lead the Cowboys past slumping 25th-ranked Texas 65-63 Wednesday night at the Frank Erwin Center.
Forte was fouled by the Longhorns’ Cameron Ridley on a last-ditch drive after Texas’ Connor Lammert hit one of two free throws with 11 seconds left to tie the game at 63-63.
The Longhorns’ Isaiah Taylor had a good look at a running 40-foot 3-pointer at the buzzer but his desperation shot glanced off the right side of the rim. The loss was Texas’ fourth in a row and sixth in its past eight games.
Texas (14-8, 3-6 in Big 12 play), playing without guard[s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)] Javan Felix (concussion), trailed by as much as 15 points in the first half. The Longhorns then lost leading scorer Jonathan Holmes to a possible concussion three minutes into the second half, but found enough of a stride to tie the game at 56-56 and force overtime.
“We have to know what we’re doing and then go do it,” Texas coach Rick Barnes said. “We fixed things in the second half. We did a lot of things right tonight.”
Taylor, an 82-percent free throw shooter, missed the front end of a one-and-one with 3 seconds remaining in regulation that could have given Texas a huge come-from-behind win.
“I might have short-armed that free throw at the end of regulation but that’s something I can’t get back,” said Taylor, who spurred the Longhorns’ comeback bid with two huge buckets on penetrating layups and led Texas with 18 points. “I had a good look at the final shot (in overtime) but it just didn’t go.”
Demarcus Holland added 14 points for the Longhorns while Cameron Ridley hit for 12, including a 6-for-8 performance from the free-throw line. Lammert led Texas with nine rebounds.
Oklahoma State (15-7, 5-5 in Big 12) was led by Le’Bryan Nash’s 17 points. Anthony Hickey hit for 15 points while Forte scored 14 points. The Cowboys’ two leading scorers for the season (Forte and Nash) combined to hit just nine of their 32 shots from the floor but converted 12 of their 13 free throw attempts.
“We concentrated on what we needed to do to win and paid attention to the scouting reports,” Oklahoma State coach Travis Ford said. “It wasn’t always pretty. We didn’t play bad in the second half, Texas just worked to get back in the game.”
Time is running out for the Longhorns to turnaround a disappointing first half of the conference season. Texas was picked a close second to Kansas in the preseason polls but is now buried near the bottom of the pack, ahead of only Texas Tech and TCU.
“We still have time – a lot of time,” Barnes said. “We’ve seen so many things happen late in the year, even in the conference tournament. We have a group of guys that are hurting and I’m hurting for them. We have a group of guys that can be really good.”
Texas returns to the court Saturday at Kansas State in what has to be considered a must-win for the Horns.
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