Parsa Fallah scored 24 points and Kanye Clary added 18 as Oklahoma State defeated No. 25 UCF 87-76 in a Big 12 game Tuesday in Stillwater, Okla.
The Knights (12-2, 1-1) were able to cut the lead to three with 8:01 left on back-to-back 3-pointers by George Beale Jr., but the Cowboys (13-2, 1-1) bounced back to go on a 13-1 run to push the lead to 15.
The surge started with a pair of Vyctorius Miller free throws. Isaiah Coleman completed a three-point play and Clary hit a pair of layups for a 76-65 Cowboys’ lead with 5:12 left.
Clary scored 15 of his 18 points in the second half and finished the game with nine rebounds and eight assists.
Oklahoma State was playing without starter Christian Coleman (11.5 points per game), who was out with the flu.
The Knights, who had their nine-game winning streak snapped, were led by Riley Kugel with 15 points and Jamichael Stillwell with 13.
The Cowboys were able to build a 11-point lead in the first half despite not hitting a field goal for more than seven minutes.
Oklahoma State hit nine of its first 15 shots, including 3-of-6 on 3-pointers to take a 21-15 lead with 10:12 left. Fallah led the way with eight points during that stretch.
The Knights missed 10 of their first 16 shots and turned the ball over three times.
Anthony Roy hit a pair of free throws with 5:18 left to give Oklahoma State a 29-22 lead.
Stillwell ended the Cowboy run with a free throw, but Fallah hit two free throws and Jaylen Curry scored on a breakaway layup for a 33-23 Oklahoma State lead with 3:25 left in the half.
At that point, the Knights were 1 of 10 from the 3-point line and had six turnovers to match the amount they had in a win last week over Kansas.
The Knights cut the lead to six in the final 1:12 when Stillwell scored on a layup and Devan Cambridge hit two free throws to make it 38-32.
But Clary nailed a 3-pointer with nine seconds left to get the lead to 41-32 at the break for the Cowboys.
Oklahoma State outshot UCF across the board, hitting 47.2% (25 of 53) from the field, 52.6% (10 of 19) from behind the arc and 77.1% (27 of 35) from the line.
UCF was especially ineffective from 3-point range, hitting only 7 of 33 attempts (21.2%).
