RECAP: Red Raiders fall to Cowboys in regular-season finale

Saturday, March 4

Lubbock, Texas

5 p.m.

Texas Tech Athletics

16-15,5-13Big 12

Oklahoma State

17-14,8-10Big 12

Oklahoma St.

Texas Tech

RECAP: Red Raiders fall to Cowboys in regular-season finale

March 04, 2023 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Press Conference Highlights

By: Wes Bloomquist

LUBBOCK, Texas – Texas Tech fought back from a double-digit deficit for the second straight Saturday but would fall again – this time taking a 71-68 loss to Oklahoma State in the regular-season finale at the United Supermarkets Arena.

The Red Raiders (16-15, 5-13 Big 12) will now take on West Virginia (18-13, 7-11 Big 12) in a Big 12 Championship first round matchup at 6 p.m. on Wednesday at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri. The winner will face top-seeded Kansas at 2 p.m. on Thursday.

Tech also took a 71-68 loss at Oklahoma State in the first matchup between the teams and has now lost eight Big 12 games this season by six points or less. In the final game of the regular season, the Red Raiders were down by as many as 13 before taking a 63-62 lead on a Jaylon Tyson 3-pointer but seeing the Cowboys close out the game for the win.

"There's some of those teams that win all those close games and some that play hard but can't get over the hump," Texas Tech head coach Mark Adams said. "I think the main thing is that this team keeps on fighting and I think it's amazing that this team continues to find ways to get back in games. I was trying to call more timeouts and settle them down and keep the game close, but these guys have great attitudes.

Fardaws Aimaq led Tech with nine points and eight rebounds in a game where nine players scored but none in double figures. Aimaq reached a career milestone, now having 1,001 rebounds to go along with 1,174 points in his career. Pop Isaacs, Jaylon Tyson and De'Vion Harmon all finished with nine points each while senior Kevin Obanor had seven points and five rebounds. Daniel Batcho returned to the lineup after missing six games, adding six points and four rebounds in 21 minutes of play. Elijah Fisher scored seven points on 3-for-4 shooting.

Tech matched a season-high with 14 3-pointers, finishing the night 14-for-30. Oklahoma State was 12-for-33 on 3-pointers. Isaacs and Tyson led Tech with three 3-pointers each, while D'Maurian Williams was 2-for-3 on 3-pointers and finished with six points. Tech also had 14 3-pointers earlier this year in a non-conference win over South Carolina State.

OSU had its largest lead of the game at 56-43 on a John-Michael Wright 3-pointer before Aimaq answered with a 3-pointer before a Fisher layup had it to within eight with eight minutes to play. The Red Raiders cut the OSU lead to 60-57 on a putback by Daniel Batcho and tied the game at 60 on a Williams 3-pointer with 4:07 in the clock. It would set up a dramatic finish with Tyson giving Tech its first lead of the game at 63-62 with 2:15 remaining. OSU would respond, going up 70-65 on a Moussa Cisse dunk before Isaacs drilled a 3-pointer for a 70-68 game. Caleb Asberry would make one free throw and miss the second, giving Tech an opportunity to tie but Tyson would miss as time expired.

Asberry led Oklahoma State with 24 points after going 7-for-12 on 3-pointers, while Bryce Thompson had 19 points and Tyreek Smith added 11 points. Moussa Cisse led the Cowboys with nine rebounds in a game where OSU had a 37-33 rebounding advantage. Oklahoma State improved to 8-10 in Big 12 play and will play Oklahoma on Wednesday at the conference tournament.

"I'm proud of our guys for," Adams said. "We dug a hole for ourselves before coming back. It's just frustrating, we want to win this for a lot of reasons, for Kevin Obanor, he's been a special person and a special player for this program for the last two years and a cornerstone of this team and anyway, he didn't have one of his best games, I Know he was playing as hard as he could and we were all trying to play as hard as we could for him and also a home win for our fans. They're great, another great crowd, and we thank our fans and our students for not giving up on us and cheering us on. It means a lot for our players, our staff and our program."

Oklahoma State took a 35-32 lead into halftime after leading by as many as 12 in the half. "Give Oklahoma St a lot of credit, they came out ready to play," Adams said. Aimaq and Isaacs led Tech with six points each while Obanor and Harmon had five each. Harmon led the Red Raiders with four assists and Obanor and Aimaq had four rebounds each. OSU had a 22-16 rebounding advantage with Cisse leading the team with seven rebounds. Thompson had 15 points with three 3-pointers, while Asberry had 11 points with three 3-pointers. Tech was 6-for-15 on 3s at the half. OSU was 7-for-19.

Tech, which trailed TCU by 12 in the second half last Saturday before falling 83-82, finished the regular season with an 11-6 record at home.

GAME TRACKER & NOTES

OSU won the tip and scored on its opening possession with Thompson hitting a 3-pointer after an offensive rebound by Smith… Obanor would hit one of two free throws on the second Tech possession for its first points
OSU got out to a 10-1 lead with an Asberry 3-pointer before Harmon free throws stopped a 7-0 run to make it 10-3 (16:30)… OSU led 13-3 on a Thompson 3-pointer on the next trip down for a double-digit lead
Harmon hit Tech's first 3-pointer of the game to make it 15-6 (15:03)…. Tech had started 0-for-4 on 3-pointers… Fisher connected on the next one, taking the score to 18-9 (14:27)
Batcho scored his first points of the game on a dunk, cutting OSU's lead to 18-11 (13:53)
Washington hit a 3-pointer for his first basket to make it a 23-14 game going into the under-12 media timeout… Tech was 3-for-7 on 3-pointers… OSU was 5-for-9 on 3s nine minutes into the game
Aimaq scored his first points of the game on a putback off his own miss… He made a free throw to cut OSU's lead to 23-17 midway through the half
A Harmon steal led to an Obanor fastbreak dunk (9:48), cutting the OSU lead to 23-19 and pushing a Tech run to 8-0 with the Cowboys calling a timeout
Isaacs made his first 3-pointer of the night to make it a 27-24 game (7:15) before OSU answered on the other end with Asberry hitting his third 3-pointer
Aimaq and Isaacs made back-to-back 3-pointers to cut OSU's lead to 35-32 (1:17)… Tech was 6-for-15 on 3-pointers after the shots… OSU was 7-for-16 on 3-pointers at the same time
Batcho scored Tech's first points of the second half off an in-bounds dunk, making it 37-34 off the fifth assist of the game from Harmon
Washington made Tech's first 3-pointer of the second half off an assist from Williams… OSU led 45-37 before a Williams 3-pointer on the next possession cut it to 47-40 with 14:27 to play… It was the first shot of the game for Williams had not played in the first half
OSU took a 53-40 lead into a media timeout with 11:54 to play… The Cowboys were on a 6-0 run going into the timeout where they had built their largest lead of the game by making 5 of their last 6 shots
Tyson hit his first 3-pointer of the game to make it 53-43 (10:54)… He had started the game 0-for-4 before the 3-pointer… OSU responded with Wright hitting a 3 on the other end to push it back to 13
Aimaq hit his second 3-pointer of the game and the 10th for the Red Raiders to make it 56-46 with 10 minutes to play… Tech was 10-for-22 on 3s… OSU was 11-for-28 at the same point
A Fisher layup off a Washington assist cut it to eight with eight minutes remaining… Fisher had seven points after the play
Tyson hit another 3-pointer to make it 58-53 (7:36) and was followed by Washington hitting a pair of free throws for a 58-55 game with 6:15 remaining… Batcho would have a putback off a Washington miss as the Red Raiders pulled to within 60-57 with 4:41 on the clock… Batcho had six points after the basket that was followed by a Tech timeout
Williams tied the game at 60-60 with a 3-pointer off an assist from Washington with 4:07 to play… It was the second 3-pointer of the half from Williams and made Tech 12-for-25 from beyond the arc… Tech was on a 14-2 run after the 3-pointer to tie the game
Tyson gave Tech its first lead of the game with a 3-pointer off an assist from Washington at 63-62 with 2:10 play… Tyson was 3-for-4 on 3-pointers in the second half after not scoring in the first half
Asberry gave OSU the lead back with his seventh 3-pointer of the game and Tech committed a turnover on its end… OSU had a 65-63 lead with one minute to play going into a timeout
Isaacs hit a 3-pointer to cut it to 70-68 with 4.0 on the clock… It was the 14th 3-pointer of the game for Tech and the third for Isaacs
OSU went to the line with 3.1 on the clock… making one of two for a 71-68 lead… Isaacs was fouled with 1.7 seconds to play to give Tech the ball… Tyson would miss a last-second heave from the bench