Death from deep Wednesday, March 1, 2023
Cowboys 3-point struggles pivotal in Baylor loss Ashton Slaughter Staff Reporter
reer-high 13 points on an efficient 5-for-8 shooting in 28 minutes. Coach Mike Boynton discussed how Williams about a month ago was struggling with the grind of playing at such a high collegiate level and started to get down on himself mentally. Since, though, he’s remained engaged, and tonight showed that. “I’m proud of his and our staff’s ability to keep him engaged through that moment so that he can start seeing some success here as we get closer to the end of the season,” Boynton said. The Bears’ offense wasn’t much better in the defensive bought, shooting only 42% from the field and 35% from beyond the arc. Strong jabs from guards LJ Cryer and Adam Flagler put the Cowboys on their heels early, while Bonner’s 12 second-half points helped put the nail in the coffin and secure a Bears win in GIA. “With Adam (Flagler) and LJ (Cryer) it makes it easy to sleep at night,” Bears coach Drew Scott said. “Dale (Bonner) was tremendous down the stretch… it starts with your backcourt.” Now, projected on the bubble of tournament contention and on a five-game losing streak, the Cowboys face an uphill battle for the rest of the season, and their inability to hit shots early against the Bears puts them in a less than ideal position with one regular season game remaining. “We got a game in Lubbock that we got to prepare for,” Wright said. There’s still a lot of basketball left to play, we’re keeping our heads high. But it was a tough one for us.”
Bryce Thompson squatted down, trying to get a better vantage point of the ball. Caleb Asberry just hoisted a 3 from the right wing, trying to return the 3-pointer that Baylor guard Dale Bonner had hit just six seconds prior. Thompson, from the right corner, watched the ball circle around the rim from his lowered point of view, before it fell toward Eddie Sutton Court after spinning out. That’s just how it went for the majority of Monday night for OSU, and despite their late game efforts to mount a comeback, they fell to Baylor 74-68. “We got a bunch of wideopen 3s in the first half,” Thompson said. “It was pretty rough from 3-point land for us tonight.” The Cowboys finished the game shooting 28% from beyond the arc and came just one attempt shy of tying a season-high of shot attempts from deep, going 9-32. The trio of John-Michael Wright, Asberry and Woody Newton, who entered the game as the top three 3-point shooters by percentage for the Cowboys, combined for a 3-for-14 rate from deep in the first half, digging a hole that couldn’t be climbed out of. “We competed til the end, we just can’t dig ourselves that hole and allow their best players to get off early,” Thompson said. A bright spot for the Cowboys on the offensive end was the production from true freshman, sports.ed@ocolly.com Quion Williams, who had a ca-
Chase Davis OSU shot 9-for-32 from 3 in its loss to Baylor on Monday.
Key takeaways from OSU’s wacky loss to Baylor
besting the previous high of 16 OSU set against UCF in overtime. But for the most part, OSU failed to convert on the extra chances. OSU scored just Sam Hutchens 10 second-chance points Staff Reporter – five less than the Bears who had just 13 offensive rebounds. “The 22 offensive rebounds are elite,” coach Mike Boynton The Cowboys said. “High, high-level demolished a season high stuff. We haven’t really in offensive rebounding. done that much lately. It’s They just couldn’t encouraging to see us do take advantage. that because it requires No. 7 Baylor beat effort, it requires physiOklahoma State 74-68 on cality, it requires conMonday night in Stillcentration and it requires water. The loss increases focus. But you’ve got to OSU’s losing streak to get more than 10 points five and dents the Cowout of it.” boys’ NCAA Tournament Junior forward chance. Here are three Tyreek Smith, who came notes from a wacky, piv- off the bench, pulled down otal game. six rebounds in 16 minOSU’s remarkutes. able rebounding all for “A lot of times naught: rebounds connect with OSU (16-14, 7-10 playing hard,” guard Bryce Big 12) rarely had just Thompson said. one crack at scoring. The Cowboys pulled in a season-high See Baylor on page 2 22 offensive rebounds,
Notebook
Jaiden Daughty The OSU Miss Black occurred in the Student Union Theatre on Saturday night and Kerri Benard won.
Crowned Miss Black OSU plans on starting a Black Student Government Association Stephanie Landaverde Staff Reporter Two contestants, one crown. On Saturday, Kerri Benard was crowned OSU’s 2023 Miss Black. The annual OSU Miss Black pageant was held in the Student Union Theatre. Benard, a psychology pre-med sophomore, and
Daisha Blation, a biology freshman, competed for the crown in seven categories. Privately, they were scored on their professionalism during the months of pageant preparation and an interview with the judges that morning. Prior to the pageant starting, Azariah Lang, a junior majoring in psychology and political science with a concentration in pre-law, said she did not know the contes-
tants, but was excited to see and learn about them and what they could bring to OSU’s campus. The two women performed an opening dance number. Afterward, the masters of ceremony, cousins Micheala Purnell, a pre-med biology senior, See Miss Black on page 6