Cowboys fall to Cyclones

The Cowboys outshot Iowa State from the floor and dominated on the boards, but the Cyclones won it from the 3-point line.

AMES, IOWA — The Cowboys had their streaks halted — five games overall and five in a row on the road — Tuesday night at Iowa State.

Still, on Senior Night in a sold-out Hilton Coliseum, Oklahoma State continued the tough and gritty play that has been a signature in this season’s revival, rallying from a 10-point deficit in the final four minutes, before falling 86-83 to the No. 24-ranked Cyclones.

“I’m really proud of our guys in a hostile environment, on a Senior Night, to really compete and fight to come back,” said Cowboys coach Brad Underwood.

OSU actually out-shot Iowa State from the floor and the foul line and dominated on the boards with a 40-27 rebounding edge.

The Cyclones, however, won it from the 3-point line.

And not uncharacteristically.

Three takeaways from the game:

Arc madness

Iowa State takes a lot of 3-pointers.

Makes a lot of 3-pointers.

That’s to be expected with the Cyclones, who lead the Big 12 with 286 made 3s this season and rank third in the conference with a 39.8 3-point percentage.

And the Cowboys expected a long-range barrage, just maybe not quite so many made 3s.

The Cyclones fired in 15-of-31 shots from the arc, getting a teamhigh seven from Matt Thomas, who matched his career best shooting night for 3s and led ISU with 25 points.

“They made 15 3s, that’s what they do,” said OSU coach Brad Underwood. “That’s an elite offensive team, in terms of shooting the basketball.”

The Cowboys were hot from long range, too, connecting on 13-of-26 of their 3-point tries. Leyton Hammonds drilled five 3s, and Jawun Evans nailed three of his four in the final three minutes.

‘We’re going to keep fighting’

Since turning around an 0-6 start to conference play, the Cowboys have revealed an emerging toughness, winning close games, rallying twice from 14-point deficits to pull out victories.

So when they trailed 74-64 inside the fourminute mark, there was no panic.

If anything, it was Evans’ time.

And as he’d done consistently during a surge that saw OSU win 10 of 11 games, he took over down the stretch, scoring 14 of his game-high 29 points over the final 3:21.

“Just trying to get a win for us,” Evans said, “trying to do whatever I can for my team to come out and get a win.”

The Cowboys quickly began clipping into the lead.

And when Evans was fouled shooting a 3, then made all three free throws, it was 81-80 with :13.8 remaining.

“We’re going to keep fighting,” Evans said. “Regardless of what they’re doing on their end, we’re going to keep fighting to the end, until the buzzer sounds.”

Said Underwood: “We’ll hold our head high, not hang it.”

Bring on the Jayhawks

One regular season game remains for the Cowboys. And it’s a big one.

Senior Night at Gallagher-Iba Arena on Saturday. A sellout. No. 1-ranked Kansas visiting, already with their 13th straight Big 12 title in tow.

“It doesn’t get any better than that,” Underwood said.

“It’s what the Big 12 is all about. It’s the one thing I signed up for in this league, the opportunity to play in those games. All these players want to play in those games and be a part of that.

“Kansas is No. 1 for a reason. They’ve won 13 straight in this league, in terms of conference championships. We’ll get our crack at home.”