[Westside]

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - You wondered which Oklahoma State team West Virginia was going to get today - the one that played uninspired in a home loss to Baylor last Tuesday night or the one that beat Kansas last Saturday.

Unfortunately for the Mountaineers, this afternoon they got the one that beat Kansas, 84-79, in Allen Fieldhouse. Lindy Waters' open 3 in the corner with 14 seconds left helped lift the Cowboys to an 88-85 victory over West Virginia in the WVU Coliseum in Morgantown.

Oklahoma State knocked off WVU, 82-75, here in the Coliseum last year, but this one could end up being far more damaging to the Mountaineers in the league standings and also their potential NCAA Tournament seeding.

WVU (18-7, 7-5) was looking to keep pace with league-leading Texas Tech and Kansas with a home victory over seventh-place Oklahoma State (15-10, 5-7) until today's loss put the Mountaineers in a position where another defeat likely eliminates them from title contention.

An inability to run good offense down the stretch, grab loose balls and stick to Oklahoma State's 3-point shooters doomed the Mountaineers this afternoon.

Coach Bob Huggins said afterward that his team was unable to execute the plays he was trying to get them to run down the stretch.

"We didn't run what we were supposed to run," Huggins said. "In the last four minutes we were trying to get the ball inside to (Sagabe Konate) and he didn't touch the ball once."

Despite allowing a staggering 36 free throws (Oklahoma State made 30 of them) and forcing just 13 turnovers, the Mountaineers seemingly had control of things with 3:10 remaining when Jevon Carter's driving layup gave them a 78-72 lead.

But Kendall Smith answered with a 3, Esa Ahmad made just one of two at the free throw line at the other end, and then a Carter turnover led to a Jeffrey Carroll 3 to turn a six-point lead into a one-point game in a matter of just 65 seconds.

Two Ahmad free throws put West Virginia up three, 81-78, but Waters responded with another 3 to tie it with 1:31 to go. Two Carter free throws unknotted the score 13 seconds later before Smith tied it with a jumper. Carter got his jumper to go down with 36 seconds remaining and then Waters nailed his second 3 in a span of 1:23 to give Oklahoma State its first lead of the second half.

Huggins called timeout with the clock showing 14 seconds to draw up something inside for Konate, who had just five shot attempts for the day, but Beetle Bolden ended up taking a contested 3 from the wing that caromed off the rim directly into the arms of Smith, who got the basketball down the floor to Carroll for a breakaway dunk.

Carter's wild 3 following Carroll's basket came as the horn sounded, sending almost all of the 13,057 here today exiting the arena scratching their heads once again.

"It's the same thing - they made shots and we didn't make shots," Huggins said.

West Virginia, which played so well in digging itself out of the hole with consecutive victories against Kansas State and Oklahoma, goes right back into the soup after today's performance.

The Mountaineers were outrebounded 31-28, committed 24 fouls and allowed the Cowboys to shoot 53.6 percent in the second half, including 7-of-14 from 3.

Smith and Cameron McGriff led Oklahoma State with 20 points each; Carroll contributed 14 while Waters and Mitchell Solomon scored 10.

"We didn't guard the ball screen," Huggins said.

McGriff got 13 of his 20 from the free throw line before he fouled out with 2:27 left, one minute behind the departure of West Virginia's Logan Routt with 3:47 remaining.

Carter scored a career-high 33 on 11-of-18 shooting and Ahmad added 16, but those two got little help from their supporting cast.

Sagaba Konate spent half the game on the bench in foul trouble, drawing two unnecessary fouls 20-feet away from the basket in the second half attempting to block 3-point shots, and finished with just 8 points and seven rebounds.

"Those are run stoppers," Huggins said when asked about Konate's two fouls so far away from the basket. "We had some things happen that were beyond our control."

Ahmad also spent a good portion of the game on the bench in foul trouble and was only able to grab two rebounds. However, he was in position at the foul line to secure Smith's missed jumper with 19 seconds left, but Smith retrieved it and kicked the ball out to Waters standing in the corner for the go-ahead triple.

"If we rebound the ball there they foul us and we're shooting free throws (with the lead)," Huggins pointed out.

As we've seen in other Big 12 games this year when West Virginia has been out-shot from the free throw line in 10 out of 12 contests, OSU's free throw disparity played a role in the outcome of today's game, especially in the first half when margin was 18 to six.

The Mountaineers are still trying to figure out a way to limit the number of free throws their opponents are shooting with just six regular season games remaining. That disparity now favors their opponents 289 to 223 in Big 12 games, an average of 5.5 attempts per game.

And it won't be easy with another two-day turnaround confronting WVU on Monday night when TCU comes to Morgantown for a 9 p.m. meeting at the Coliseum.

http://wvusports.com/news/2018/2/10/mens...wboys.aspx