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Oklahoma State basketball holds off Kansas State for second Big 12 win of season
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- Oklahoma State basketball holds off Kansas State for second Big 12 win of season
STILLWATER — While last Tuesday night felt like two painful losses, but the Oklahoma State men's basketball team countered with one meaningful win on Saturday.
Despite getting routed and losing senior guard Bryce Thompson to injury earlier in the week, the Cowboys fought to the finish for a 75-72 win over Kansas State on Saturday afternoon at Gallagher-Iba Arena.
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Javon Small led the Cowboys (10-12, 2-7 Big 12) with 18 points, adding seven assists and five rebounds. OSU sophomore Quion Williams had a season-high 17 points to go with 10 boards and three assists as the Pokes picked up their second Big 12 win in the last three games.
The Pokes had five players in double-figures, with freshman Jamyron Keller adding 12 to go with 10 each from freshman Brandon Garrison and super-senior John-Michael Wright .
"These things aren't easy," coach Mike Boynton said of the win. "I think this shows we have high-character people. I'm proud of their response to a really big piece of our team being gone, particularly some guys who hadn't really contributed a whole lot."
OSU led by nine points on four different occasions, the last with 5:44 left in the game after a three-point play by Williams.
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But Kansas State (14-8, 4-5) fought back behind the hot hand of Tylor Perry . The guard hit five of nine 3-point tries, but came up empty on his last look on K-State's final possession. Perry finished with a game-high 19 points.
Here are three takeaways from the Cowboy victory:
More: Big 12 basketball power rankings: Is it time to believe in BYU, this week's biggest riser?
OSU guard Quion Williams (5) dunks the ball in the second half of a 75-72 win against Kansas State on Saturday at Gallagher-Iba Arena in Stillwater.
Quion Williams strong in place of Bryce Thompson
Williams, a 6-foot-5 sophomore wing, drew the starting nod in place of his injured teammate, and while most of his offensive work was done after halftime, Williams had all 10 of his rebounds in the first 20 minutes, six of them on the offensive end.
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Thompson, who has 78 career starts in three years at OSU, tore the labrum in his right shoulder in Tuesday's 29-point loss at Kansas and is expected to miss an extended period of time.
Boynton had decided earlier in the week that he would start Williams, but a shaky effort in practice Friday had the coach second-guessing his decision.
"I don't know if I've ever coached a kid who got 10 rebounds in a half," Boynton said. "I may have, but I probably would remember it.
"We challenged him to step up and be more reliable. … We don't have a ton of options, right? When you talk about what we need to fill the spot, we could go with shooting. We haven't shot it great, so we probably need a little bit more teeth on defense, and he's the best guy there."
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But Williams came through with his best offensive performance of his career. He hit a big 3-pointer during a 12-0 Cowboy run late in the first half and had two big second-half dunks that energized GIA, plus the aforementioned three-point play.
"I was talking to Bryce about staying the course," said Williams, who recorded his third double-double of the season. "I just felt like since we're down a man, everybody needs to step up, so I just gave what I could."
Among others expected to see increased playing time in Thompson's absence, Keller played his most minutes of the season with 24. That matched his total from all of OSU's previous eight Big 12 games, including three where he never saw the floor.
The 6-foot-3 freshman had an early impact with two strong drives for layups in the first half, then a 3-pointer early in the second on his way to 12 points — his second-most of the season. He had a late free throw that put the Cowboys up 75-72 with 12 seconds left, and was defending Perry when he took his 3-point attempt in the closing seconds.
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"Another kid who responded," Boynton said. "I told him coming out of Christmas break that there was a chance for him to take a step up or take a step back.
"For him, at the time we needed him the most with Bryce out, to step up and give us some defensive presence with the guy he had to guard today, and still be able to get some offensive production out of him, we see what's possible with some time for these guys," Boynton said.
More: Which Oklahoma State basketball players will be most impacted by Bryce Thompson injury?
Oklahoma State guard John-Michael Wright (51) dives to layup the ball and is fouled by Kansas State guard Cam Carter (5) in the first half during an NCAA basketball game between Oklahoma State (OSU) and Kansas State (KSU) at the Gallagher-Iba Arena in Stillwater Okla., on Saturday, Feb. 3, 2024.
Three-point barrage boosts Cowboys
Late in the first half, Oklahoma State had made one of its nine 3-point tries.
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Then freshman Justin McBride and Williams hit 3s on consecutive possessions as part of a 12-0 Cowboy run that turned a 24-17 deficit into a 29-24 lead.
The deep shots kept falling early in the second half, with early 3s from John-Michael Wright, Javon Small and Keller.
The Cowboys finished just 9-of-26 but were 6-of-12 in the second half.
More: Oklahoma State basketball's Bryce Thompson to miss 'significant time' with shoulder injury
Ranked foes await Cowboys
The grueling road of the Big 12 Conference offers nothing but challenges, and the Cowboys have a triple-dose coming up.
They pay a visit to the conference's highest ranked team, No. 4 Houston, at 6 p.m. Tuesday, televised on ESPN2.
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Before Boynton came in to talk to the media, he watched the final eight minutes of the first half between Houston and Kansas.
"It didn't make me feel good about enjoying (the win over K-State)," Boynton said. "A lot of times, our struggles are pointed just toward us struggling. We're playing really good teams, and I'm not making excuses. We need to continue to find a way to play better.
"These kids are getting better. They just have to learn how to do it consistently."
The Houston trip is followed with the season's first Bedlam at No. 23 OU next Saturday.
Then the Cowboys get a brief break with a week off before hosting No. 22 BYU on Feb. 17.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma State basketball holds off Kansas State for second Big 12 win
