Oklahoma State hands No. 16 BYU basketball 3rd straight loss

PROVO (KSL.com) — BYU men’s basketball found another hole out of which it couldn’t climb.

Anthony Roy scored a season-high 30 points including five 3-pointers, and Parsa Fallah added 13 points and seven rebounds as Oklahoma State handed the 16th-ranked Cougars a third consecutive loss, 99-92 at Gallagher-Iba Arena in Stillwater, Oklahoma.

Jaylen Curry totaled 18 points, six rebounds and three assists for the Cowboys (16-6, 4-5 Big 12), which led for 34 of 40 minutes against the top-20 team with at least two projected NBA draft picks.

Maybe Roy should add his name to the discussion next June.

The senior from Oakland, California, who led the country in scoring last year with 25.7 points per game at Green Bay, connected on 9-of-15 shots from the field and 5-of-10 from deep for the Cowboys, who led by 15 in the first half before giving back the lead and rallying to take control over the final 10 minutes.

AJ Dybantsa had 36 points, seven rebounds and four assists for BYU (17-5, 5-4 Big 12); and Richie Saunders added 20 points, eight rebounds and three assists.

Robert Wright III scored 15 points to go with four rebounds and four assists for the Cougars, who assisted on 12 of 33 field goals including just six of 17 in the second half.

But Oklahoma State shot 54.8% from the field after the break, and scored 21 points off 16 turnovers with 52 points in the paint en route to perhaps the Cowboys’ biggest win since an 87-63 victory over current SEC leaders Texas A&M on Nov. 9.

Welcome to the Big 12, where every night is a battle in a league where all 16 team rank in KenPom’s top 120, and all but one rank inside the top-100. At No. 15 in the predictive metric and the NET rankings, the Cougars are among the most hunted teams.

“There are so many good teams in our league,” Young said before the game. “There are no nights off. You have no choice but to respond to it, or you’re going to get left in the dust.”

The Pokes certainly kicked up the dust in the midweek tilt in Stillwater.

The hosts, who ranked No. 60 in KenPom and 67th in the NET, got 13 first-half points from Roy and Curry topped a 9-0 run to give Oklahoma State a 29-14 lead less than 12 minutes into the game.

Aided by 14 points off 11 first-half turnovers, the Cowboys jumped out to a 20-9 advantage after nine minutes and led by as much as 15 two minutes later.

The Cougars woke up, and Dybantsa got going — eventually.

The five-star freshman who had far-from-his best game in a highly anticipated duel with fellow top NBA draft prospect Darryn Peterson at Kansas shot 6-of-8 from the field in the first half including a pair of 3-pointers with four free throws and four rebounds in 18 minutes.

Dybantsa scored 12 points during a 19-4 run to end the half, including a dunk in the closing seconds to pull the Cougars all the way back from 15-down to tie the game at 41-41 at halftime.

Saunders gave BYU its first lead with a 3-pointer 1:49 into the second half, but the advantage didn’t last. The Cougars led for just three minutes of game time, and Roy dropped his fifth 3-pointer with 4:13 remaining to give the Cowboys an 81-69 lead to pull away for good.

It doesn’t get easier, either. BYU returns home Saturday to host No. 8 Houston (8:30 p.m. MST, ESPN).