Javon Small scored 19 points and Jamyron Keller added 15 on Wednesday, lifting Oklahoma State to an 80-76 victory over Cincinnati for its first true road win of the season.
Small made 7 of 15 shots from the floor and overcame a 1-for-7 performance from 3-point range and six turnovers.
Keller sank all five of his free-throw attempts for the Cowboys (12-14, 4-9 Big 12), who went 13-for-14 from the charity stripe to improve to 1-7 on the road this season.
Brandon Garrison chipped in 14 points and Quion Williams collected 12 points, eight rebounds and eight assists.
Oklahoma State sank a robust 55.6 percent of its shots from the floor and 41.2 percent of its attempts from 3-point range.
Simas Lukosius scored 17 points and Jizzle James, Day Day Thomas and Jamille Reynolds each had 10 for the Bearcats (16-10, 5-8), who have lost three of their past four games overall and three in a row at home.
Small made a layup and Keller sank three free throws to give the Cowboys a 66-65 lead with 3:43 remaining in the second half. Cincinnati’s Aziz Bandaogo converted a three-point play and Oklahoma State’s Eric Dailey Jr. answered with a trey before John-Michael Wright’s 3-pointer and Williams’ two free throws staked the Cowboys to a 74-68 advantage.
Lukosius sank a 3-pointer to halve the deficit with 1:18 to play, and Dan Skillings Jr. added a layup to bring the Bearcats within one at 74-73 with 26 seconds left. Small made two pairs of free throws around a layup from Cincinnati’s John Newman III. Thomas made one free throw before intentionally missing the second with four seconds left, but the Bearcats were unable to net the equalizer.
Keller made a layup to give Oklahoma State a 50-46 lead before James ignited an 8-0 run for Cincinnati. He converted a layup and a jumper before setting up Bandaogo’s jump shot to give the Bearcats their first lead since the 10:09 mark of the first half. James added another jumper to push Cincinnati’s advantage to four points with 9:15 remaining in the game.
Oklahoma State took a 37-32 advantage into the break behind 10 points from Garrison.
–Field Level Media