Vasean Allette hauled in a three-quarters-court inbounds pass and hit a game-winning 3-pointer as time ran out to vault TCU to a 73-72 win against Oklahoma State on Wednesday in Fort Worth, Texas.
Allette led the Horned Frogs with 16 points and added seven assists and six rebounds. Noah Reynolds and freshman Micah Robinson had 13 points each, and Reynolds added eight assists. Robinson’s points were a career high. Malick Diallo chipped in 10 points for TCU (13-11, 6-7 Big 12).
Bryce Thompson led Oklahoma State with 17 points. Abou Ousmane supplied 15 points and seven rebounds for the Cowboys (12-12, 4-9).
In a frantic final minute, Ousmane’s dunk with 18 seconds left gave the Cowboys their first lead of the night at 71-70. TCU’s David Punch missed a layup and Allette couldn’t get a tip-in to go on the Horned Frogs’ next possession. But Oklahoma State’s Brandon Newman could only split a pair of free throws with three seconds left, pushing the lead to 72-70.
With 1:45 to play, Reynolds had a layup blocked by Ousmane, but got the ball back and beat the shot clock with a corner jumper to give TCU a 69-67 lead.
The Horned Frogs’ Jace Posey blocked a 3-point attempt by Marchelus Avery on Oklahoma State’s next possession. Punch split a pair of free throws to give TCU a 70-67 edge with 1.04 left.
Coming out of a timeout, Arturo Dean missed a layup, but was fouled after he stole the ball from Reynolds at half-court. Dean missed both free throws, but the Cowboys got a pair of offensive rebounds to set up Newman’s fall-away jumper with 23 seconds to make it a one-point game.
Nine of the Horned Frogs’ points on their game-opening 11-2 burst came on layups or dunks. Diallo capped the rally with a fast-break layup.
TCU finished the game with a 36-28 advantage on points in the paint and shot 48.2 percent from the floor. Oklahoma State shot 40.7 percent.
Thompson scored five straight points on a corner 3-pointer and a layup to bring the Cowboys within 17-14 with 8:55 left in the first half.
In the closing seconds of the half, Robinson and Trazarien White sandwiched 3-pointers around a free throw by Khalil Brantley to push TCU’s lead to 38-31 at halftime.
