Cowboys Drop A Close Matchup To Pittsburgh

News9.com

NEW YORK -- The Oklahoma State Cowboys saw their three-game win streak snapped Saturday at the hands of the Pittsburgh Panthers, coming up short 74-68 during the non-conference matchup at Madison Square Garden.

The Cowboys (6-3) fell behind big in the early moments of the game, with the Panthers (9-1) scoring an 11-3 run, including back-to-back from Nasir Robinsons, in the opening 4:30 of the game.

Four minutes later, freshmen phenoms Cezar Guerrero and Le'Bryan Nash made their presence known. Nash knocked down a pair of jumpers, with three-pointers from Guerrero in between, to cut the lead to 21-19 with less than 10 minutes left to play.

However, Pitt rattled off four consecutive of their own to push the lead back to five points just two minutes later.

Leading 29-26 with just four minutes left to play, the Panthers dropped another big run on the Cowboys. Pittsburgh closed the half on a 13-4 run – including eight from Ashton Gibbs, to close the lead with a 42-30 lead.

That lead essentially held for the first 10 minutes of the second half, and Oklahoma State trailed 57-41 with 10:36 left in the game. The Cowboys responded with a 12-3 run, including six from Roger Dowell, cutting the lead to 60-53 with just 6:35 left to play.

The lead would essentially hold for the closing minutes of the game.

Guerrero led all scorers Saturday with 20 points, hitting nine of his 20 field goal attempts, while Dowell notched 10 points and three assists, both coming off of the bench. Keiton Page led the Cowboys' starters, scoring all 12 of his point from behind the arc.

Gibbs led the charge for Pittsburgh with 17 points, grabbing three rebounds and dishing out two assists, while Lamar Peterson turned in a double-double with 12 points, 10 rebounds and even dished out six assists.

The Cowboys will take a week off before their next matchup, taking on New Mexico at the Chesapeake Energy Arena at 9:30 p.m. Saturday.