NORMAN — Down by three with the last seconds ticking off the clock, Oklahoma State guard Javon Small drove the length of the Lloyd Noble Center court, only to have the ball knocked away, and with it, the Cowboys' desperation hopes.

OU (18-6, 6-5 Big 12) added a free throw to make it a 66-62 victory over the Cowboys (10-14, 2-9) in the season’s first edition of Bedlam men’s basketball on Saturday night.

But for those wondering why Small dribbled into the lane when his team needed a 3-pointer, it might not have been as duncical a mistake as it appeared to be.

“You can ask (OU coach Porter Moser) because I’m not in their huddle, I think they were trying to foul, and did try to foul — I think they fouled,” OSU coach Mike Boynton said, referencing possible contact with an OU defender near midcourt. “I think (Small) assumed a whistle was coming, and then didn’t recalibrate the situation beyond that.

“That happens because there’s a lot of things you process, and then once he got past the guy, he should’ve just taken the 3 at that point, because he was open.”

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But Small didn’t adjust to the non-foul quickly enough, OU’s Rivaldo Soares came up with a steal in the paint and the Cowboys never got a game-tying attempt in the air.

“That was the plan, we were supposed to foul on the second dribble,” OU’s Le’Tre Darthard said. “It didn’t happen.”

So basically, Moser’s typical strategy of fouling in that situation backfired — which worked to perfection.

“We have that philosophy of fouling, and (Small) just took off where you couldn’t catch him,” Moser said.

Small had a team-high 17 points on 5-of-16 shooting. John-Michael Wright added 13, including two of OSU’s three 3-pointers. And Quion Williams had his second double-double in the last three games with 12 points and 10 boards.

While the final-moment mishaps were costly, it was the offensive and defensive lapses over the final 5 ½ minutes of the game that buried the Cowboys.

OSU was mostly miserable offensively for a good portion of the night, finishing just 19 of 62 from the floor (30.6%) and 3 of 18 from 3-point range (16.7%). But taking advantage of a tightly-called game and three OU technical fouls, the Pokes got to the free throw line for 28 tries, hitting 21, which kept the offense afloat.

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When Small hit a jumper with 5:40 to play, OSU led 56-52.

Yet from that point, the Pokes went nearly four full minutes without a point as OU pulled in front 61-56. And OSU couldn’t recover.

The Cowboys mostly defended well and staved off big OU runs.

“It’s the best we’ve guarded in quite some time,” Boynton said. “It’s been an Achilles’ heel of this particular group. This is a little different for us, considering where we’ve been nationally in terms of defensive ratings. But I thought today we played with some resistance. I think we kept them off balance switching our defenses up a little bit more.

“But they did a good job themselves adjusting. They went inside when they saw some switches and tried to attack the basket when we got some foul trouble.”

In the end, it’s simply another loss on the chart in an emotionally challenging season.

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“You always don’t like losing,” Williams said. “We take it all the same, a close loss or a big loss. Guys gotta get back in the gym the next day.”

The Cowboys have a week off, not playing again until hosting No. 21 BYU at 1 p.m. next Saturday.

With several freshmen in need of rest thanks to extended playing time, and a whole roster that could benefit from a brief mental break, Boynton and his veterans will try to get the team to reset before taking the floor again.

“We just gotta understand we still have a lot of basketball left to play,” Wright said. “We can really turn this thing around with one good stretch. Us going through it last year, we have the confidence of what we were able to do, and we still feel like the guys this year are able to do the same thing.

“We’re just trying to preach positivity, especially to the freshmen who haven’t gone through this at all. We’re just trying to keep our heads up and practice every day.”

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma State basketball hampered by shaky play late in Bedlam loss