Houston Cougars forward Chase McCarty (24) celebrates during the second half of an NCAA college men’s basketball game on Wednesday Mar. 4, in Houston, Texas. | Raphael Fernandez/The Cougar
The stage was set at Gallagher-Iba Arena as the Cougars’ men’s basketball team went on the road to face off against the Oklahoma State Cowboys for their final game of the season.
Expectations were high as the Cougars needed a final win to boost their current ranking and possibly secure a higher seed in the upcoming NCAA March Madness tournament, and they did not disappoint.
Things started off with a bang for the Cougars with Graduate forward Milos Uzan hitting a three with the assist coming from Freshman guard Kingston Flemings to open the game.
However, OSU senior star guard Anthony Roy quickly responded with a three-point jump shot of his own and thus began the shoot-out showdown.
Roy hit another three-point shot but Flemings quickly responded with a two-point layup with the assist coming from junior forward Joseph Tugler.
OSU junior guard Kanye Clary hit back from beyond the arc, putting the Cowboys ahead 11-7 with about sixteen minutes left in the first half. As the Cougars tried to catch up early, Clary hit another long ball to help his team lead 16-11 with 14:27 left on the clock.
Roy continued to make it rain with a splash three that put the Cowboys up by seven points with nine minutes left in the first half. The Cougars refused to relent, and Freshman forward Chase McCarty scored two three pointers to end the half with UH trailing by only four points: 41-37.
Opening up the second half, Roy scored a three-pointer to put the Cowboys up 44-39 early. However, Cenac dunks it for two along with Uzan scoring from downtown off a steal from graduate guard Emanuel Sharp at the expense of fifth year OSU guard Christian Coleman, tying the game 44-44 with seventeen minutes left in the game.
The game was neck to neck for a while with the score of 60-60 with nine minutes left in regulation play.
Oklahoma State would not go down without a fight, and after a couple of drawn fouls, junior guard Jaylen Curry hit a three of his own off an assist from junior guard Isaiah Coleman to bring OSU within four points.
Coleman then hit two from the charity stripe off a McCarty shooting foul to put the score at 73-71 with 2:31 left to play. Sharp responded by hitting a clutch three pointer followed by another McCarty three to make the score 80-73 with only thirty-six seconds left. Sharp then hit two final free throws to end the game with a final score of 82-75.
Throughout the game, there was a phenomenal performance by Chase McCarty who scored a career-high 20 points going 6-of-9 from downtown, adding 7-10 field goals and 4 rebounds.
Flemings stayed lit with 13 points, 5 rebounds and 9 assists. Sharp scored 11 points on 3-8 FGs with 5 rebounds and fellow guard Uzan shot 4-10 FGs and 3-8 for three with 5 assists in their final game as Cougars.
Cenac Jr was the lone player to score less than ten points with over ten minutes of play scoring 6 points and securing 4 rebounds. OSU was led by Roy with 28 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists, followed by Clary with 14 points, 6 rebounds plus 4 assists and Ahmed with 11 points, 4 rebounds.
A perfect ending to the final game of the season for the Coogs who finish 6-3 on the road this year with an overall record of 26-5 heading into Selection Sunday next weekend.
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