Bryce Thompson scored 25 points as Oklahoma State forced 20 UCF turnovers in a 104-95 Big 12 win in Stillwater, Okla., on Wednesday.
Abou Ousmane scored 17 points, Arturo Dean added 16 points, Khalil Brantley tallied 15 points and Marchelus Avery chipped in 10 for Oklahoma State (13-13, 5-10 Big 12), which posted its highest scoring game of the season.
Keyshawn Hall scored a game-high 34 points. Darius Johnson racked up 23 points and Mikey Williams added 14 for UCF (13-13, 4-11), which lost its seventh straight game.
It was the highest scoring half of the season for the Cowboys, who built a 53-40 halftime lead by forcing the Knights into 15 first-half turnovers. The Cowboys held a 26-5 advantage in points off turnovers for the game. OSU had just seven turnovers as it snapped a two-game skid.
OSU held a 46-36 advantage on points scored in the paint and took advantage of the absence of UCF freshman center Moustapha Thiam, who did not play.
The Knights’ full-court press was quickly beaten with an outlet pass that led to an Ousmane two-hand jam that gave OSU a 15-9 lead with 14:47 left in the first half. One OSU possession later, Avery’s triple gave the Cowboys an 18-9 lead that forced UCF to call a timeout.
A Johnson layup through heavy traffic drew a foul and led to a three-point play to pull the Knights closer at 40-31 with 6:26 left in the first. But OSU reeled off a 13-3 run that featured a Dean trey off an Ousmane steal.
UCF closed the first half with a 6-0 rally as Johnson’s layup was the final bucket before halftime.
OSU held a 46-36 advantage on points scored in the paint and took advantage of the absence of UCF freshman center Moustapha Thiam, who did not play.
Thompson’s free-throw line jumper closed out a 6-0 Cowboys scoring spurt as OSU took a 69-53 lead with 13:07 to play. But the Knights battled back to cut the OSU lead to 71-61 on Hall’s hard-earned old-fashioned three-point play with 11:39 left.
But the visitors battled back late with a 7-1 run that featured back-to-back layups by Johnson that cut OSU’s advantage to 81-76 with 4:58 to play. Avery’s triple with 1:58 left put OSU up 93-83.
–Field Level Media
