STILLWATER, Okla. – Despite trimming the deficit to five late in the second half, the UCF men’s basketball team came up short at Oklahoma State, 105-94, Wednesday night inside Gallagher-Iba Arena.
Rokas Jocius, in for an ill Moustapha Thaim, won the jump ball to start the contest, leading to Keyshawn Hall knocking down a triple on the game’s first possession with an assist from Darius Johnson. After Oklahoma State hit a long two on its first possession, Johnson again lent a helping hand, picking up an assist on a long two-pointer from Mikey Williams. The Knights missed just one shot before the first media timeout, but three turnovers resulted in five Cowboys points, giving them an 11-7 lead at the break.
By the under-12 media timeout, Oklahoma State had a 12-2 advantage in points in the paint, a 5-0 edge in second chance points, and an 8-0 edge in points off turnovers, leading to a 26-14 lead eight minutes in. The Cowboys hit seven of their eight shot attempts leading into the timeout to build their lead.
The turnovers continued as the Knights coughed the ball up eight times in 12 minutes, hindering themselves from cutting into the dozen point deficit that sat at 36-24. Hall and Williams combined for all but three of UCF’s points with eight to play in the first, scoring 14 and seven, respectively.
The Black and Gold ended the half on a 6-0 run, but it was in the process of trimming a 19-point lead to 53-40. Fifteen turnovers plagued the Knights in the first 20 minutes, resulting in 20 Oklahoma State off those turnovers. The Cowboys missed their final six shots of the half and hadn’t registered a point in the final 3:25 of the opening segment.
Going into half, Hall was given a technical foul, awarding Oklahoma State two free throws to start the second. The Cowboys hit one of two, and UCF got the ball to get the clock rolling. Oklahoma State was first to register a field goal, going up 56-40 a minute in.
UCF pieced together a 6-0 run, all via Jordan Ivy-Curry. He knocked down a pair of free throws and a fastbreak layup. Oklahoma State’s Abou Ousmane committed a foul before earning a technical foul of his own, as Ivy-Curry buried both ensuing free throws.
The Knights entered the single bonus with 14:25 points still to play, as Dallan ‘Deebo’ Coleman hit a free throw to make it 63-53.
Six straight UCF misses allowed Oklahoma State to inflate the lead to 16 again at 69-53. Still, the Knights refused to go away, as Hall and Johnson earned lay ins with an and-one conversion from Johnson. After a Cowboy make, Hall again earned a tough two, adding an extra point with the and-one to make it 71-61.
UCF earned its way into the double bonus with 10:02 remaining as the Knights continued to try to claw back. Soon after, they did just that.
Out of the under-eight media timeout, Williams buried a triple to cut the deficit to nine at 78-69. Oklahoma State answered with two points in the paint, but JJ Taylor responded with a triple. A free throw on the other end led to a Johnson layup with 5:13 to play. Johnson again sliced into the paint 15 seconds later, earning another pair to cut Oklahoma State’s lead to just five, forcing the Cowboys to call a timeout with 4:50 to play and an 81-76 lead.
Oklahoma State pulled away out of the timeout, going on a 6-0 run to regain its double digiti lead at 87-76 with 3:19 to go. UCF cut it back to seven with 1:58 to play after a Johnson three-pointer and a pair of Hall makes from the charity stripe. The Black and Gold had to play the free throw game shortly after and couldn’t pull through, falling 104-95.
The turnover discrepancy was a large factor in Wednesday night’s ballgame, as the Knights finished with 20 turnovers, their most of the season, while forcing only seven, the fewest by an opponent on the campaign. Oklahoma State finished with a 26-5 edge in points off turnovers.
Hall shone bright yet again, registering 34 points and playing in every second of the contest. It was his third game this season scoring north of 30 points and the fourth occurrence in his career. He has registered five 20+ point performances in his last seven outings and has earned all three of his 30+ point games over the last 11. Hall now averages 19.1 points per game on the campaign, which if the season ended today, would stand as the highest clip by a Knight since Jermaine Taylor had 26.2 in 2008-09.
UP NEXT
The Knights return to Orlando for a two-game homestand, hosting Utah on Sunday, Feb. 23 before playing Kansas State Wednesday, Feb. 26.