Late offensive rebound, put-back dooms Red Raiders in road loss to Oklahoma State

In what’s been an up-and-down season, the one thing that’s been consistent for the Texas Tech men’s basketball team is spurts of great execution on the offensive end before an unneeded, untimely drought.

And the fight of the squad.

For the first one-and-half minutes of the first half, the Red Raiders looked crisp en route to a 7-0 lead before going cold and allowing Oklahoma State to creep back into the Big 12 Conference contest inside Gallagher-Iba Arena.

Despite trailing by as many as 14 points, the Red Raiders had a chance to force overtime but an effort play ensured that did not happen.

John-Michael Wright, who was not blocked out, recorded a tip-in before drawing a foul to propel Oklahoma State to a 71-68 victory over Texas Tech in Stillwater, Oklahoma.

“I think Elijah (Fisher), who was on Bryce (Bryce Thompson) — played great defense. Had him to a contested mid-range jump shot,” said Harmon, who finished with 19 points — including 13 in the second half — to go with five rebounds, of the final sequence before the buzzer. ”We just missed the backside rebound. Unfortunate, but can’t hold our heads for too long.”

With the loss, the Red Raiders (17-12, 1-10) dropped their second straight game. Oklahoma State (15-9, 6-5) has won five of its last six games — including the home scare Wednesday night.

“Our hats go off them (Oklahoma State). I was pleased with the way our guys played, definitely played good enough to stay in the game and win,” Texas Tech coach Mark Adams said. ”We missed some shots. De’Vion (Harmon) had a great game. He and Jaylon Tyson, so proud of both those guys. Proud of DH for fighting the way he did.”

In the final minute, it appeared Texas Tech would extend the game to overtime following a left-handed layup by Harmon to knot the contest at 68-68.

But, that would not be the play of the game as Wright’s effort in the waning moments provided the highlight for the Cowboys — who were without the services of Avery Anderson, who underwent wrist surgery earlier in the day.

Bryce Thompson, who scored all of his game-high 21 points in the first half, was one of the key reasons Oklahoma State held a lead at halftime. He was aided by Quion Williams (10 points), Kalib Boone (nine points, nine rebounds) and Wright (eight points, six rebounds).

“I think both teams played really hard,” Harmon said. ”A lot of games come down to rebounding. Sometimes you just think, getting a stop (is enough), … but you have to box out and rebound.”

Late in the second half, Kevin Obanor missed the front-end of a one-and-one opportunity as TTU trailed 63-60 with 3:34 left to play. Obanor ended with 15 points and seven rebounds.

Tyson (20 points four rebounds) made it a one-possession again, finishing a layup in traffic and completing a 3-point play to put the Red Raiders down 65-63 with two minutes in the contest.

A minute later, Tyson drilled a 3-pointer to make it a one-point contest at 67-66 at the 59-second mark that would begin a frenetic finish.

“The last shot’s not usually the one that beats ya, it’s the rebound,” Adams said of the Red Raiders losing the rebounding 36-31, including 14-8 when it came to offensive boards. ”That’s our message the whole game because this a good rebounding team. They’re great, especially on the offensive boards, which is where they’re exceptional. And when they get those, they put them back.

“We didn’t have the muscle and the physicality that they did. I thought that was the difference in the game. … That’s our challenge is being in a position to where we’re not doing things where we’re beating ourselves: we’ve got to take better shots, we’ve gotta make sure we’re blocking out and not turning the ball over.”

The first half looked promising as Texas Tech made 5-of-7 shots before taking a 10-6 lead. The Red Raiders went 1-for-8 after that, which allowed OSU to creep back in and take the lead.

After the Cowboys outscored Texas Tech 16-4 to start the second half before trailing by as many as 14 points.

The Cowboys forged a 20-5 run — fueled by 14 of Thompson’s 21 points in the first half — to take a 26-12 lead with 9:27 left before the midway point.

The Red Raiders, who trailed by as many as 11 points, forged a 10-0 run to close the game within one point at 26-25 in what turned out to be a back-and-forth seven minutes to close the first stanza.

Thompson stopped it all as he banked in a 3-point shot before Texas Tech’s Jaylon Tyson drained a triple to put the deficit at one point (29-28) again with six minutes until the break.

After OSU scored the next four points, the Red Raiders outscored the Cowboys 6-to-3 — and forced Kalib Boone to miss a 3-pointer — on the way to trailing 36-34 at halftime.

The Cowboys started off on a 16-4 offensive spurt — creating a 14-point scoring cushion at 52-38 with 13:33 left in the contest.

The Red Raiders battled back to within one possession after Harmon drained a right-wing three-pointer to put TTU down 59-56 with less than seven minutes and setting up an interesting close to the game.

What’s next: Texas Tech is scheduled to host No. 12 Kansas State at 6 p.m. Saturday. In the first meeting, the Wildcats claimed a 68-58 victory in Manhattan, Kansas.

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Late offensive rebound dooms Red Raiders in road loss to Oklahoma State