Cowboys Hurting After Loss To Bears

The Oklahoma State basketball team suffered a double blow Tuesday night. The Cowboys not only lost their 15th consecutive road game – dating back nearly two years – but they also may have lost leading scorer James Anderson, who suffered an ankle injury and did not play the final 13 minutes of OSU’s 79-71 loss to Baylor at the Ferrell Center in Waco, Texas.

The Cowboys, now 10-6 (1-1 in Big 12 play), saw a five-game winning streak snapped, while Baylor improved to 14-2, which is the best start in school history since the 1920s.

Foul shooting plagued the Cowboys throughout the game as they made just 18 of 33 from the charity stripe (54 percent) and also committed 22 turnovers (one shy of the most this season). Baylor, on the other hand, was 24 of 32 from the free-throw line, including 20 of 25 in the second half.

Oklahoma State had a three-point lead with 13:30 remaining after a Terrel Harris basket with 13:36 remaining. But the Bears and 6-foot guard Henry Dugat then went on a 21-8 run to take a lead that the Cowboys could not overcome. Dugat, who was averaging 10.9 points per game, scored 11 of his team-best 23 points during that seven-minute stretch in which the Bears took control.

Baylor stretched its lead to 74-62 with just 2:14 left to play on two free throws by LaceDarius Dunn. But the Cowboys did not go down without a fight. Byron Eaton’s basket, a steal and layup by Harris, a basket and foul on Marcus Dove, and then an offensive rebound off Dove’s missed free throw led to Eaton scoring again – and suddenly the score was 74-70 with 34.5 seconds remaining.

But the Bears made five of six free thows down the stretch – four in a row by Tweety Carter in the last 22 seconds – sealed the win.

Harris scored 23 points, just one off his career high, to lead the Cowboys. Dove (12), Anderson (11) andEaton (11) were also in double figures.

The Cowboys, who have not won a true road game since defeating Kansas State on Feb. 4, 2006, will look to break the 15-game road losing streak when they travel to Iowa State on Saturday.