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STILLWATER — A frantic rally came up just short as Oklahoma State saw its NIT run end in a 61-59 loss to North Texas on Tuesday night at Gallagher-Iba Arena.
Brandon Newman’s last-second 3-pointer bounced off the back of the rim after the Cowboys had cut a nine-point deficit to two in the final 1:11.
OSU rebounded a North Texas miss with 10 seconds to go, but as Cowboy coach Steve Lutz realized his team was not going to get a shot off before the buzzer, he called timeout with 0.7 seconds on the clock.
As officials blew their whistle for the timeout, OSU’s Khalili Brantley shot a 3-pointer that went in, though it appeared the shot left his hand after the buzzer.
In the timeout, he drew up a play that got Newman a good look at a winning shot.
“In hindsight, I probably should’ve called it with three seconds, because I didn’t feel good about what we were doing,” Lutz said about the timeout. “My point guard went to the left side. He was supposed to go to the right side. We had a play drawn up. It was a broken play.
“But at the end of the day, Brandon got a good shot with 0.7 seconds and I’d put a lot of money on him hitting those the majority of the time.”
After scoring 85 and 89 points in each of the first two NIT games, the Pokes turned in a sporadic shooting effort, finishing 41.8% from the field while hitting 4 of 15 from 3-point range (26.7%), and 9 of 16 free throws. Six of those free throw misses came in the final 3:32.
Newman and Bryce Thompson led the Cowboys with 17 points apiece, while point guard Arturo Dean added 12 points and a team-high seven rebounds.
“For as good as we were offensively the first two games, tonight obviously was the direct opposite,” Lutz said. “Hell of a game. We just came up short. Turned the ball over a little too much and obviously, you gotta make free throws in games in March.”
The loss ends the Cowboys’ season at 17-18 in Lutz’s first year.
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Publish date : 2025-03-25 23:01:00
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