Nash lifts Oklahoma State past Iowa State, 69-67
Comments (...)STILLWATER, Okla. (AP) — Le’Bryan Nash was determined to avoid another crushing defeat at the buzzer against Iowa State.
Given a chance at redemption, he came up with the big plays Oklahoma State needed on both ends of the court.
Nash hit the winning fadeaway jumper with 4.7 seconds left and blocked Chris Allen’s attempt for the tie at the buzzer to lift the Cowboys to a 69-67 victory Tuesday night.
Markel Brown scored 19 points and Nash added 18 as Oklahoma State (12-12, 5-6 Big 12) avenged a 71-68 loss at Iowa State three weeks earlier on Scott Christopherson’s banked-in 3-pointer at the buzzer.
“They got us on a last-second shot — which I think we should have won — at their house, and we weren’t going to let that happen again,” Brown said. “We bowed up on defense, and coach told us not to give up any 3s this time. Le’Bryan made a good play on the ball.”
Not bad, considering that Nash is convinced he’s the “weakest link” on defense in coach Travis Ford’s mind.
“It felt good to go back in the locker room and say, ‘What now?’ I made a good defensive play,” Nash said. “It’s good to rub it in his face.
“It’s good to get the win. That’s what I wanted the most.”
After a game filled with back-and-forth runs, this one came down to the final play too.
The Cyclones (17-7, 7-4) wiped away an eight-point deficit over the final 5 minutes behind Allen’s strong 3-point shooting.
He hit a pair of 3-pointers and two free throws during a 12-4 comeback for Iowa State, and Royce White tied it at 67 with two free throws with 39.3 seconds left. That was less than a minute after the 50 percent foul shooter had missed two in a row and air-balled the first.
Brown, who lost the ball out of bounds to give the ball back for Christopherson’s winner in Ames, then dribbled the clock down and set up Nash’s jumper with 1 second left on the shot clock.
Allen, who hit five of his career-high six 3-pointers in the second half, drove past the arc and into the lane, but Nash swatted his shot into the stands to preserve the victory.
“We executed our play,” Iowa State coach Fred Hoiberg said. “We got a big guy guarding Chris, and he took it in there, made a move, thought he could get in there and either get fouled or go for the layup.
“He was obviously the hot guy for us at the time, and we wanted to get the ball in his hands and let him make a play.”
Ford said the thought of how the game ended in Ames didn’t cross his mind during the final sequence. He was more concerned with Allen, who finished one shy of his career best with 22 points.
“I was a little surprised he didn’t pull up for a 3,” Ford said. “I thought he was going to pull up and give them a chance.”
White ended up with 15 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists, falling short in his bid to become the first Big 12 player with two triple-doubles against conference competition. Colorado’s David Harrison is the only Big 12 player with two, in the 2002-03 season, with one coming in nonconference play.
The Cyclones lost their 17th straight game at Gallagher-Iba Arena. Their last victory in Stillwater came in 1988.
“Each time you go out there, it’s a new challenge, a new opportunity,” Hoiberg said. “We just didn’t get it done down the stretch tonight.”
Keiton Page scored 13 points, Brian Williams added 10 and Michael Cobbins had a career-high 14 rebounds for Oklahoma State.
Iowa State scored nine of the game’s first 10 points before Ford called time out, and Oklahoma State came right back with a 19-4 run that ended only after Nash drew a technical foul for yelling “and one” at an official to protest a non-call.
The Cyclones’ Tyrus McGee also got a technical for pumping his fist in Cezar Guerrero’s face in celebration after blocking Guerrero’s 3-pointer and then racing to the other end for a layup. Page hit the two free throws for the technical, and McGee’s foul shot gave Iowa State a 32-31 edge at halftime.
The runs kept coming in the second half.
Another early timeout by Ford led to a 13-2 Oklahoma State run capped by Marek Soucek’s 3-pointer to take a 44-39 lead. Iowa State then scored the next seven points to go back ahead on White’s coast-to-coast dunk.
The Cowboys kept producing highlight-reel dunks, and the Cyclones — the Big 12’s top 3-point-shooting team — kept answering from behind the arc.
Allen hit a pair of 3s that put Iowa State ahead before Oklahoma State responded with nine straight points, including Brown’s right-handed slam, and Page’s three-point play made it 63-55 with 4:56 remaining.
It still came down to one final play for Nash to erase some bad memories from the last meeting.
“It always crosses my mind,” he said. “I think we should be right now on the winning side of our conference record.
“I hate a game-winning shot on the losing end. I hate that so much because there’s something I could have done or my teammate could have done to change that and put us in that situation.
“I’m just glad we got back to them.”
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