James blocks Cowboys' comeback

By Andrea Cohen

Published: March 15, 2008

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Sean Sutton sat in the locker room and described what he considered the play of the game in Oklahoma State's 66-59 loss to Texas in the second round of the Big 12 Tournament.

After trailing as many as 13 points in the middle of the second half, OSU's Terrel Harris squared up to shoot an open 3-pointer that would have cut the Longhorns' lead to two with 1:20 to play.

"I was getting ready to call a timeout because it's a two-point game (if he makes it),” Sutton said.

But Texas forward Damion James came flying to Harris in the corner and blocked the shot about eight inches out of Harris' hand.

James made a lot of great plays on Friday, finishing with 23 points and 11 rebounds, but that swat might have been the play that hurt OSU the most.

As if on cue, a television tuned to ESPN in the locker room showed the highlight of the play as Sutton finished describing it.

"There it is, right there,” Sutton said, shaking his head in amazement all over again. "Biggest play of the game. A huge play.”

With that play, OSU's late run became too little, too late.

"At that point we were really behind the eight ball,” Sutton said.

The Cowboys hung with No. 6 Texas early as freshman Ibrahima Thomas was on fire, scoring 15 points to help OSU to a one-point lead at the half. Thomas finished with a career-high 19 points.

But at the beginning of the second half the Cowboys went cold shooting and "did not go out with the same defensive mindset,” Sutton said. Texas went on a 14-0 run as OSU failed to score for 7½ minutes. Point guard D.J. Augustin scored eight points in that stretch, and finished with a game-high 24 points.

The Cowboys mounted a comeback by hitting three 3-pointers in a row late in the game.

"We fought back, but we weren't able to get over the hump,” point guard Byron Eaton said. "We made our run, but at the end it was too late.”

Eaton was summarizing not just Friday's game but also OSU's season as a whole. The Cowboys started the conference season 2-7 but turned things around, winning five straight games before losing their last two, including the regular-season finale to Texas in Austin.

"We knew coming in it was going to be a really hard-fought game,” Texas coach Rick Barnes said. "”We had two with them throughout the regular season and really a hard one just a couple days ago. It is almost like you feel like you are in 2-3, 3-5 series.”

OSU beat Texas Tech by four in Thursday's first-round game before coming into the rematch with Texas.

Senior Marcus Dove said he hopes his younger teammates have learned from the holes the Cowboys have been digging themselves into all year.

"You can't let opportunities slip away,” Dove said. "It's been a little bit frustrating, but I'm proud of this team. They never gave up. We never gave up. That salvaged a lot for me.”

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