Bracket - Championship Central
No. 8 Oklahoma State and No. 7 Texas advanced to the Phillips 66 Big 12 Men's Basketball Championship quarterfinals with victories on Wednesday evening. The Cowboys will play No. 1 Kansas at 1:30 p.m. CT, while Texas faces No. 2 Texas Tech at 6 p.m. CT. All four of Thursday's quarterfinal games are televised on ESPN2.
Game 1: No. 8 Oklahoma State 71, No. 9 Oklahoma 60
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - Cameron McGriff scored 18 points, Jeffrey Carroll added 13 points and 13 rebounds, and No. 8 Oklahoma State pulled away from No. 9 Oklahoma with a 71-60 victory in the opening round of the Phillips 66 Big 12 Men's Basketball Championship on Wednesday night.
Kendall Smith had 11 points for the eighth-seeded Cowboys (19-13), who led 58-53 with 6 minutes left before easing away down the stretch to set up a quarterfinal matchup with No. 1 seed Kansas.
Oklahoma State swept the ninth-ranked Jayhawks during the regular season.
Trae Young had 22 points on 7-for-21 shooting to lead the Sooners (18-13). It swelled to 50-34 when McGriff hit his third 3-pointer of the second half.
Young finally got on track for the Sooners, burying back-to-back 3-pointers when the Cowboys' defense lapsed. That kicked off a 12-2 run that concluded with Brady Manek's 3-pointer and drew coach Lon Kruger's slumping bunch within 52-46 midway through the second half.
It remained nip-and-tuck until the 6-minute mark, when the Sooners proceeded to miss six straight and nine of 10 from the floor. Brandon Averette began getting loose near the basket for layups, Carroll added a jumper and Tavarius Shine's basket made it 64-53 and forced Kruger to call timeout.
The Sooners' Jamuni McNeace was called for a flagrant foul moments later, and McGriff and big man Mitchell Solomon buried four straight free throws, effectively putting the game away.
Game 2: No. 7 Texas 68, No. 10 Iowa State 64
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - Dylan Osetkowski scored 20 points, Matt Coleman knocked down a crucial jumper in the final minute and Texas beat Iowa State 68-64 on Wednesday night in the opening round of the Phillips 66 Big 12 Men's Basketball Championship on Wednesday night.
Jase Febres added 12 points and Jericho Sims pulled down 15 rebounds for the No. 7 seed Longhorns (19-13), who advanced to play second-seeded Texas Tech in Thursday's quarterfinals.
The Cyclones (13-18) forged a 58-all tie on a basket by Zoran Talley Jr. with 5 minutes left, but Coleman started a run of six straight points that gave Texas a cushion. Coleman then scored again with 43.1 seconds left, giving the Longhorns a 68-64 advantage in the back-and-forth affair.
Lindell Wigginton turned the ball over on the Cyclones' next possession, ending any comeback.
The freshman guard finished with 20 points and eight boards for Iowa State, but he also committed nine turnovers against two assists. Cameron Lard had 14 points and Talley had 12 points and nine rebounds.
Kerwin Roach had nine points, six rebounds and seven assists for the Longhorns, fighting through some shooting - he was 2 for 12 from the floor - and a chipped tooth. Roach took an elbow to the mouth midway through the first half, sending half of an upper tooth skittering across the floor.
The Cyclones, winners of three of the past four Big 12 Tournaments, looked in the opening minutes as if they had brought some of that Hilton Magic south on Interstate 35 once again. They gradually built a 28-18 lead, taking advantage of the Longhorns' cold outside shooting.
The game turned when Roach - missing half that tooth - returned to the lineup.
Texas turned up the defensive intensity, Osetkowski made back-to-back 3s after missing his first six from beyond the arc, and a 16-3 closing charge gave the Longhorns a 34-31 halftime lead.
Texas pushed its run to 22-3 before the Cyclones finally got into a rhythm. When they did, they relied on Wigginton on the outside and Lard on the inside, clawing their way back from a 40-31 deficit with a big run of their own that got a crowd full of red on its feet and roaring.