West Virginia falls 67-60 on the road at Oklahoma State
West Virginia struggled early and couldn't hold on late falling 67-60 on the road at Oklahoma State to start league play 0-2.
The Mountaineers have now lost 11 consecutive Big 12 road games.
The Cowboys got on the scoreboard and pushed the early edge out to 4-2 with 17:13 left in the first half. The Mountaineers had three turnovers in the first four minutes and struggled to put the ball in the basket in the early going hitting just 1-5 from the field.
Oklahoma State would hold an 11-4 edge at the 12:18 mark as the Cowboys continued to take advantage of West Virginia turning the ball over and not being able to put the ball in the basket.
The Mountaineers would cut the deficit to 15-9 at the 9:08 mark, but the slow start continued as the offense continued to sputter and develop any consistency in the early stages of the game.
At the 6:01 mark West Virginia would cut the deficit to 19-16 before the Cowboys would double it up with a three-pointer to keep distance in the first half. The lead would swell back out to 24-16 before Mitchell would can a three-pointer to bring the Mountaineers to within five with 3:29 remaining.
West Virginia would trail 31-22 at the break by shooting just 32-percent from the floor and turning the ball over 11 times while allowing the Cowboys to hit 48-percent of their attempts.
The Cowboys opened the second half with an open three pointer and was able to stretch the lead to a dozen. And the lead would remain double digits with only 15:45 remaining as the Mountaineers couldn't cut into the lead.
The Mountaineers were able to bring the score within 40-33 at the 13:43 mark despite the fact the Cowboys had missed eight straight baskets. That lead would shrink to 42-39, before a three-pointer would again give Oklahoma State some breathing room.
West Virginia continued to battle and an Erik Stevenson three would cut the deficit to 49-47 with 8:28 left in the game. Two more threes by Stevenson would give the Mountaineers their first lead of the game at 53-51 with 7:17 left. But after that Stevenson would be hit with a technical foul and foul out on a charge call.
The Mountaineers used a 13-3 run to take a 55-52 lead with 5:57 left to play. The lead would sit at 57-56 with 3:55 left as the two teams continued to exchange blows.
Oklahoma State would re-take and hold a 63-58 lead with 1:10 remaining to play as the offense struggled to score with Stevenson on the bench.
The Cowboys would then close things out 67-60 down the stretch.
West Virginia will next take on Kansas at home Saturday with tipoff set for 6 p.m.
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