'We just weren't ourselves': How a bad start to day got worse for OSU in Bedlam overtime loss

NORMAN — Oklahoma State coach Mike Boynton sat at the white plastic table inside Lloyd Noble Center wanting a redo.

For the first half of the basketball game.

For the leadup to leaving the team hotel.

“I wish I could erase the first 20 minutes of the game,” Boynton said. “I think I’d be feeling a lot better about what happened today.”

A reset was certainly in order Saturday.

From Moussa Cisse — the Cowboys’ budding star center — being late for the team bus and losing his starting spot to a dismal start on the court, it was a no-good-rotten start to the day.

One that was insurmountable.

On a day the Cowboys fell 66-62 in overtime to Bedlam rival OU early Saturday afternoon, the pain of the loss centers on the rough opening of the entire day.

“We just weren’t ourselves in the first half,” said OSU guard Avery Anderson III, who scored a game-high 25 points. “That’s how it all started.”

The Cowboys were going for their first five-game winning streak against OU since 1965. Instead, they fell two games below .500 at 13-15 with a pair of games left in the season.

The Cowboys trailed by as much as 14 in the second half, but erased a nine-point deficit in the final 2:40 to force the extra period on a Cisse lob dunk with 7.9 seconds remaining.

Cisse fouled out with 31.3 seconds remaining in the extra period. That led to the decisive free shots by Tanner Groves.

OSU had a chance to tie the game or take the lead, but Anderson’s inbound pass to Bryce Thompson with 17.7 seconds left was stolen by Marvin Johnson. He got a breakaway layup to seal the game.

“The defender made a good play, got around and tipped it,” Anderson said.

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But that was just a small example of what plagued the Cowboys.

Cisse said he was one minute late for the team bus. He accepted the punishment, which put him on the bench at the beginning and inserted Kalib Boone into the starting five.

“Coach held me accountable today,” Cisse said. “He made a change in the lineup. It didn’t bother me. I was locked in. I had to take that hit.”

The Cowboys needed their 7-foot transfer center on the floor as much as possible.

He had his second straight double double and third in the past five games, scoring 12 points and grabbing 10 rebounds while blocking three shots in 22 minutes. He was a plus-13, one of only two Cowboys in positive on plus-minus.

“He’s been playing well,” Boynton said. “He played well. We preach accountability around here. I’m not going to say it lost us the game by any means, because we got the ball inside still and had opportunities to convert and we didn’t.

“But it’s part of my responsibility to keep teaching those guys so he’s better prepared when he leaves us.”

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When Cisse entered the game after Boone struggled to start, OSU trailed 10-4. Cisse had a dunk a few minutes later to spark the team to take a brief lead

It’s still just really hard to overcome a 3-for-16 start shooting. OSU had a scoring drought that lasted more than 7 minutes. It had seven turnovers, six missed shots and a missed free shot in that span.

OU took control with a 12-0 run.

But the Cowboys got the needed reset at halftime.

Anderson got going. He scored 18 of his points after halftime.

OSU still had a big deficit to cut into. With 2:40 left, the Cowboys broke free of their woes. They got into transition. Over the final 1:32, the Cowboys scored the final seven points to tie the game on Cisse’s dunk.

Down the stretch, OSU tossed four lobs Cisse’s way, converting three.

Cisse’s presence then allowed the Cowboys to get to the basket in overtime. But when he fouled out — a point of contention for the Cowboys initially due to some confusion on foul totals — that all changed.

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The lobs stopped. The lanes closed.

“I would say that was more impactful than the start of the game,” Boynton said. “Not having him in there at the end to rebound or to be a screener and help guys get open.”

That opened the door for another frustrating loss.

Now, the Cowboys have a tough road trip at Iowa State on Wednesday and a season finale against Texas Tech remaining.

The start to each day will be better. Maybe that leads to a better end result.

At least, OSU hopes so.

“It’s hard to try to get it going in the second half and try to win it in OT when you don’t got it going in the first half,” Anderson said. “We just gotta get off to a good start.”

Jacob Unruh covers college sports for The Oklahoman. You can send your story ideas to him at junruh@oklahoman.com or on Twitter at @jacobunruh. Support his work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma State basketball's bad start ends in Bedlam OT loss at OU