Caleb Asberry scored 15 points to lead Oklahoma State to a 57-49 win over Oklahoma in the opening round of the Big 12 tournament on Wednesday in Kansas City, Mo.
The seventh-seeded Cowboys (18-14), who saw their NCAA Tournament hopes take a hit when they endured a five-game losing streak late in the season, will oppose second-seeded Texas on Thursday in the quarterfinals.
Oklahoma State was swept by the Longhorns (23-8) in two regular-season games.
The 10th-seeded Sooners likely are done for the season at 15-17, the program’s first sub-.500 finish since 2016-17.
All three of Asberry’s 3-pointers came in the second half, including his final trey with 5:32 remaining that kicked off a 9-0, game-clinching run.
Asberry scored 13 in the second half.
Bryce Thompson contributed 12 points for Oklahoma State, and John-Michael Wright had 10. Tyreek Smith led the Cowboys with 14 rebounds while Moussa Cisse added 11. Oklahoma State produced a 49-39 edge on the glass while completing a three-game season sweep of the Sooners.
Oklahoma’s top two scorers, Grant Sherfield and Tanner Groves, both struggled to get much going on offense.
The duo combined to go 6 of 28 from the floor and 1 of 12 from beyond the arc.
Groves led the Sooners with 13 points and 12 rebounds. Sherfield had just two points until scoring six in the final two minutes with the outcome already decided.
The Cowboys looked destined to put the game away quickly, taking a double-digit lead in the first 10 minutes with a 14-0 run.
However, the Sooners punched right back, ripping off a 12-0 run of their own later in the half to trim a deficit that was as big as 14 down to two.
Oklahoma missed its last eight shots before the break, but Oklahoma State couldn’t take much advantage, finishing in a 2-of-12 slump itself while taking a 26-20 lead into halftime
The Sooners were just 3 of 13 on layups in the first half, and they shot 21.9 percent from the floor before the break. The Cowboys hit 38.7 percent from the field prior to halftime.
Overall on the night, Oklahoma State finished at 35 percent, Oklahoma at 25 percent.
–Field Level Media
