Cowboys defeat Cincinnati on senior day

STILLWATER -- Seven seniors combined to score 70 points to lead Oklahoma State to a 78-70 win over Cincinnati on Saturday afternoon at Gallagher-Iba Arena.

The win gives OSU (15-16, 7-13 Big 12) the No. 12 seed in next week's Phillips 66 Big 12 Men's Basketball Championship and sets up a first-round rematch with the 13th-seeded Bearcats (17-14, 7-13) at 11:30 a.m. CT Tuesday. The official tournament bracket will be released later this evening.

Abou Ousmane scored 11 of his game-high 24 points during a 20-4 run that gave OSU a 40-22 lead with 4:00 to play in the opening half. The Cowboys made eight consecutive shots to begin that stretch.

Cincinnati pulled to within 66-65 at the 4:31-mark of the second half, but the Cowboys answered with 12 straight points on 8-on-8 free throw shooting to secure the win. The Bearcats missed seven straight shots and turned the ball over twice before finally scoring on a tip-dunk with five seconds left.

OSU honored eight seniors before the game, and all seven who saw action scored, with Ousmane (24 points) joined by Bryce Thompson (16), Marchelus "Chi Chi" Avery (10), Brandon Newman (9), Khalil Brantley (4), Patrick Suemnick (4) and Kirk Cole (2).

Arturo Dean, the only non-senior to score for OSU, finished with eight points and a season-high eight assists along with three steals.

OSU made its first six three-point attempts in a 7-for-9 performance and shot 48.6% overall from the field.

Cincinnati matched OSU's seven threes but needed 28 attempts. The Bearcats finished at 40.6% overall from the field and were outscored 13-4 at the foul line.

Jizzle James paced Cincinnati with 17 points on 6-of-21 shooting.

Oklahoma State University Athletics

Players Mentioned

Khalil Brantley

Kirk Cole

Arturo Dean

Brandon Newman

Abou Ousmane

Patrick Suemnick

Bryce Thompson

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