Their message was the same. Take over this game.
Take over this Big 12 Tournament opener against Texas Tech, Lord Byron, the way you took over the season. Saved this season, to be precise. Saved the Cowboys from total calamity.
So after his Oklahoma State teammates had carried him most of Thursday's matinee, Eaton returned the favor.
OSU beat Tech 76-72 Thursday in the Sprint Center, because the Cowboys played well without Eaton, then played well with him.
Late in the game, "Dove told me, ‘It is your turn to take over the game,' ” Eaton reported. "‘You need to be the best point guard out on the floor.'”
That's the message coach Sean Sutton delivered at halftime, when Eaton had three fouls, zero points and zero aggression, which was not the recipe Eaton used in February to instigate a five-game winning streak and make these Cowboys his team.
Truth is, OSU goes the way Eaton goes. So the Tech verdict would go the way he went.
"He had the ball in his hands 90 percent of the time, so it was up to him,” Harris said with a great deal of hoops clarity.
Here's how Eaton responded.
A jumper that gave OSU the lead with 5:50 left in the game. An assist on Obi Muonelo's basket that gave the Cowboys a tie with 4:12 left. A steal that led to Harris foul shots.
And finally, the capper. An acrobatic layup on a patented Eaton penetration, giving OSU a 71-68 lead with 1:38 left. Eaton got all the way to the basket, was cut off by a Tech defender and seemed to have no angle at the backboard. Yet still he slivered in the ball.
Another jumper with 49 seconds left gave OSU more breathing room, letting Eaton escape wrath for making just one of three foul shots in the final 33 seconds.
"He made big plays at the end,” Sutton said.
The win allows the Cowboys to chase the impossible dream of Big 12 men's basketball. Four wins in four days, to reach the NCAA Tournament.
Not bloody likely, with Texas today and probably Oklahoma and Kansas after that. But you never win four without winning the first, and the Cowboys wouldn't have won the first without Eaton at the end and sucking it up without him in the middle.
Eaton picked up his third foul with 3:38 left in the first half, and the ensuing free throws put Tech up 29-23. Uh-oh.
But the Cowboys not only didn't wilt, they prospered. Scored on their next possessions to end the half.Martavius Adams muscling in for two foul shots. A Dove baby hook. A Dove steal that led to James Anderson's dunk. Harris' 3-pointer that gave OSU the lead. A nifty Adams pass to Anderson for a layup. Two Muonelo foul shots that made it 36-32 at the half.
That's spreading around the burden rather well.
"My team did a great job when I was on the bench, keeping us in the game,” Eaton said.
That's got to be a good feeling for Sutton, not only for this tournament but next season, provided he's still around. OSU's success doesn't always have to revolve around its enigmatic point guard.
"That's a good sign,” said Muonelo who ran the point in Eaton's stead. "Sometimes he's going to be in foul trouble and sometimes not play as well as he's capable of.”
Well, foul trouble happens, but the Cowboys still need Eaton to play at the highest level possible. Still need him to take care of the ball (just one turnover vs. Tech), distribute the ball (four assists) and shoot the ball (12 points).
Oh yes, and guard the other guy, which Eaton did to smashing success Thursday, holding Tech point guard John Roberson to one basket and two points.
All in all, a solid day for King Cowboy. The kind of day OSU needs to keep climbing in Kansas City, where the mountain is high, and next season, where the future suddenly is bright.
