(Photo Credit: Ryan Leopando- Arch City Sports)
Johnanthan Williams’s III career high 22-point night wasn’t enough for the Missouri Tigers as they dropped their third straight contest to Oklahoma State 74-72 at the Sprint Center in Kansas City.
The inability to generate points on open looks continues to be a problem for Missouri as a last second layup from D’Angelo Allen rattled off the rim handing the Tigers their second heartbreaking loss in as many games.
This game was about as close as it could have been with both sides getting contributions from all over the floor. The first half remained in a deadlock up until Wes Clark led Missouri on an 11-0 run forcing Cowboy head coach Travis Ford to call a timeout with the Tigers leading 28-17.
Oklahoma State was able to cut the deficit to seven, but at the half Missouri held a 31-24 lead.
Coming out of the break Montaque-Gill Caesar drilled a three-point jumper putting a jolt into the Tiger heavy crowd. Gill-Caesar tallied 15 points and five rebounds on the game.
Minutes later Oklahoma State answered with three straight three-point connections to force Missouri to call a timeout and regroup with Tigers clinging to a 39-35 advantage.
The Tigers would later give up that lead as Oklahoma State’s Le’Bryan Nash and Phil Forte heated up in the second half. Both Nash and Forte contributed 21 points on the game.
With less than 20 seconds in regulation Williams III drained a long three-point attempt to cut Missouri’s deficit to 61-59. After a missed Oklahoma State free throw the Tigers went the length of the floor and Tramaine Isabell connected on a buzzer beater to tie the game up 62-62.
In Overtime two costly turnovers by the Tigers cost them the game. Nash and Forte scored all 12 the Cowboys points in over time to seal the victory 74-72.
These are the kinds of games that hurt the most for fans. Missouri clearly was capable of beating a respectable Oklahoma State team, but once again was unable to get the job done down the stretch.
I’m sure Kim Anderson would love to have more experienced players in these types of situations, but unfortunately that is not the case. The costly turnovers and missed open looks, especially by Allen at the end, are unacceptable.
The Tigers went 7-20 from the three-point line and Keith Shamburger, who played 40 minutes, failed to contribute any points. How does that happen? I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; this team is much better than what their record states.
5-7 is hardly what Anderson envisioned two games away from league play. The Tigers have to find a way to make some adjustments otherwise it’ll be an extra cold winter inside an already sparse Mizzou Arena.
Missouri is next in action Jan. 3 at home against Lipscomb.
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