For Pokes, Final Sequence Turns Out Right
By John Helsley
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Sometimes, things that don’t quite go right, still turn out all right.
That’s what happened for Oklahoma State in the final seconds Tuesday night, leading to the drama that produced a 69-67 win over Iowa State, complete with a final stand that found Le’Bryan Nash swatting away Chris Allen’s attempt at a buzzer-beater to tie.
Might not have happened, at least not that way, if the preceding offensive series had gone down like Cowboys coach Travis Ford wanted.
“They executed exactly what we wanted,” Ford said of his Cowboys. “I don’t know what type shot we wanted to get, but I wanted to make sure we got it with three or less seconds on the clock.”
OSU got a good shot, with Nash bouncing back to shoot over the smaller Allen, drilling a 15-foot jumper for the lead.
Except he did it with :04.7 left, not three seconds or less.
And that changed what the Cowboys did defensively.
Ford said that with less time, he would have put Nash on the ball, defending the inbounds pass, which likely would have been thrown at least to midcourt.
“With four seconds left, you’ve got plenty of time to throw it in and take 10 dribbles,” Ford said. “I didn’t think they were going to throw it long.”
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