Cowboys fall on the road to Texas

AUSTIN, Texas — The Oklahoma State men’s basketball team bounced back from two early Texas runs but couldn’t survive a third in an 81-65 loss Saturday afternoon at the Moody Center.

John-Michael Wright scored 18 points on 4-of-9 3-point shooting for OSU (12-17 overall, 4-12 in Big 12 play).

Quion Williams and Javon Small added 13 points each to go with 11 points from Jamyron Keller.

Small’s jumper in the lane tied the game at 52 with 12:21 remaining, but Texas (19-10, 8-8) scored the next 14 points to pull away.

Dylan Disu (17 points), Chandall Weaver (16 points) and Max Abmas (15 points) led the UT scoring.

Along the way, Abmas hit his 1,000th career field goal and became just the fifth player in NCAA history with 500 3-pointers.

UT shot 47.1 percent from the field and knocked down 9-of-25 from deep.

OSU shot 41.2 percent (5-of-19 from 3-point range) but kept pace for the first 30 minutes with free-throw shooting. They converted 18-of-21 overall.

The Longhorns won the rebounding (39-28) and turnover (15-8) battles, outscoring the Cowboys 22-1 on second-chances and 24-16 off turnovers.

Wright extended his streak of consecutive games with multiple 3-pointers to 12, matching Keiton Page (201112) for the second longest in program history, six shy of the record.

Wright’s first triple of the day tied it at 18 near the 11-minute mark of the first half.

The Longhorns ran off 11 straight points to briefly pull away, but the Cowboys quickly reeled them in with a 9-1 counterpunch, beginning with back-to-back Williams baskets.

Keller made a tough lay-up through contact and Small drained three free throws to cut the deficit to 33-30 with just less than to play in the half.

Abmas hit his milestone three during a 10-3 UT push that helped rebuild the lead to 45-36 at halftime.

OSU missed its first nine shots to start the second half but avoided losing much ground thanks to a 1-for-8 UT start.

Disu’s lay-up stretched the UT lead to 47-36 before the Cowboys snapped out of their funk with three fast-break baskets in a span of less than 80 seconds.

Small and Wright forced steals and finished lay-ups, then Small grabbed a long rebound off an Abmas miss and streaked the other way for a three-point play that sliced the margin to 47-44 with 14:34 to go.

Wright sank two triples in a less than a minute and Small popped a short jumper in the lane to tie the game at 52 with 12:21 left.

UT got it all back and then some over the next three minutes with baskets on each of its next six possessions along with five straight defensive stops.

The Cowboys were slated to entertain Texas Tech on Tuesday night Gallagher-Iba Arena.