Wright takes over final minutes, fends off TCU rally

my coaches came to me in the huddle and was like, ‘Just be the voice out there, slow everything down, make sure we get a good shot, if you have a gap –attack,’” Wright said. So, he did.

the key to take the lead back. Wright extended the advantage on the next play with a layup.

This time, the Cowboys weren’t giving up the lead.

final five minutes, finishing with 17, his third most this season.

John-Michael Wright acted instinctively.

Moussa Cisse blocked TCU guard Damion Baugh’s layup, sending it to the baseline. Wright barely grabbed the rebound while teetering on the out-ofbounds line, and he hurled it over his shoulder without looking.

Caleb Asberry caught it at midcourt and threw it to Kalib Boone for a dunk.

That heads-up play was one of many by Wright, who took over in the final minutes of OSU’s 79-73 win over No. 15 TCU in Gallagher-Iba Arena on Saturday afternoon.

From the stands, Wright’s pass looked like it was intended for Asberry, who caught it in stride. Coach Mike Boynton said his team is taught to throw the ball as far from the basket as possible in that scenario, but he praised Wright for the wherewithal to connect with Asberry.

Wright would have liked to take credit, but he said he didn’t even see Asberry when he threw it.

“I was just hoping somebody was there,” Wright said. “I just wanted to get it past half court, so I threw it as hard as I could.”

In the first half, Wright scored nine points, all 3-pointers, and Boone, who finished with a career-high 25, had 12 in the opening half. By early in the second, the Cowboys (14-9, 5-5) built a 19-point lead.

Then here came TCU (17-6, 6-4) and turnovers.

The Horned Frogs went on a 20-3 run in less than seven minutes and cut the lead to two. Over that stretch, the Cowboys committed six turnovers and shot 1-for-6 from the field.

At the 5:09 mark, TCU took its first lead.

“Honestly, the message is stop turning the ball over,” Boynton said.

But for Wright, the coaches had a personal message.

“When they started making runs,

Wright immediately helped tie the game with an assist to Boone for a dunk, then Wright hit a jumper the next time down the court to force another tie.

“(Wright) was a little bit hesitant earlier in the year to do those type of things,” Boynton said. “Part of it is coming in and embracing his role as a secondary scorer. Probably took it too far. We still need him to find his aggressive points in the game.”

Braden Bush Assistant Sport Editor sports.ed@ocolly.com

A point guard’s job varies. Sometimes it’s points, other times it’s facilitating. But on a night when guards Bryce Thompson and Woody Newton combined for seven points in 57 minutes, it was Wright who had to score late.

“Just trying to control the offense was what I was really trying to do,” Wright said.

Next possession, it was Wright again. He hit a three from the top of

Wright scored eight points in the