Cowboys fall short in overtime battle with No. 18 Baylor

Saturday, January 6

Stillwater

2:00 PM

Oklahoma State University

8-6,0-1Big 12

Baylor

12-2,1-0Big 12

OT 1

Baylor

Oklahoma St.

January 06, 2024 | Cowboy Basketball

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STILLWATER -- Despite a career-high 20 points from freshman Brandon Garrison, Oklahoma State saw its five-game winning streak come an end with a 75-70 overtime loss to No. 18 Baylor on Saturday afternoon at Gallagher-Iba Arena.

Garrison made all seven field goal attempts and each of his six free throws, becoming the first Cowboy since Bryant "Big Country" Reeves to finish 6-for-6 or better in both columns. Reeves was perfect on 10 field goals and six free throw tries in a Dec. 9, 1992 win over Tulsa.

Garrison, who set his previous career scoring high of 11 last weekend against South Carolina State, also tallied eight rebounds and four blocks.

Javon Small added 17 points and Bryce Thompson tallied 15 for OSU (8-6, 0-1 Big 12), which lost for the first time in a little over a month.

Yves Missi had 13 points and 10 rebounds for Baylor (12-2, 1-0) which came in shooting a nation-best 44.8% from three but made just 2-of-15 against a determined Cowboy defense.

OSU took a 60-56 with lead with less than 2:00 to play in regulation after Garrison converted two flagrant foul free throws and scored on an alley-oop from Javon Small.

Baylor's RayJ Dennis answered with a four-point play on the next possession to tie the game at 60.

Neither side scored again in regulation. Dennis missed twice in the last 15 seconds, including a game-winning jumper ahead of the horn.

The lead changed hands five times in overtime before Jalen Bridges sank two free throws with a minute left to put Baylor ahead 71-69.

NOTABLE:

OSU has lost its last six overtime games going back to the 2021-22 season. Prior to that, the Cowboys had won six straight.
The Cowboys are 0-2 in OT this season and 0-5 in games decided by five points in either direction.
Garrison is also the first Cowboy in nearly five years to score 20 points without a missed field goal. Yor Anei scored 20 on 7-of-7 shooting in a Feb. 6, 2019 game at TCU.

QUOTABLE:

Mike Boynton Jr. on Garrison's breakout performance:
"The truth of it is, he's still just scratching the surface of what he can be. He really doesn't know how good he can be yet. Which is probably a good thing, because he doesn't have a corrupted mind. He's not in a rush to go somewhere. And that's a big part of the reason he's been able to get better, is because of where his feet are – so to speak. He's focused on getting better every day. I'm not going to promise 20 (points) and eight (rebounds) every night, but we're going to see him grow into a player that our fans will appreciate, that will help us win a lot of games."

UP NEXT:
The Cowboys are on the road next week, Tuesday at Texas Tech (7 p.m. CT, ESPN+) and Saturday at Iowa State (5 p.m. CT, ESPN2).