No. 10 MBB Outlasts Oklahoma State in Overtime, 66-64

Monday, February 21

Stillwater, Okla.

8 PM

Baylor

23-5,11-4Big 12

Oklahoma State

13-14,6-9Big 12

OT 1

Baylor

Oklahoma St.

No. 10 MBB Outlasts Oklahoma State in Overtime, 66-64

2/21/2022 10:56:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Final Book (PDF)

Adam Flagler ties a career high with 29 points

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
            STILLWATER, Okla. – Even after missing his first seven shots and scoring just two points in the first 40 minutes of Monday's game at Gallagher-Iba Arena, James Akinjo never lost his confidence.
            Thank goodness he didn't.
            While Adam Flagler matched his career-highs with seven 3-pointers and 29 points, Akinjo hit two pull-up jumpers in overtime and knocked down the game-winner with 13.6 seconds left to lift 10^th-ranked Baylor to a 66-64 win over Oklahoma State Monday night at Gallagher-Iba Arena.
            "You can't really think about what's going on in regulation. When it's winning time, you've got to kind of put it in the back of your head," Akinjo said. "If you've seen me at any other places I've been, you couldn't question my confidence. Everywhere I've played, I tried to bring a big shot-making mentality with me. That's always been there for me."
            The Bears (23-5, 11-4) avenged last month's 61-54 loss to OSU (13-14, 6-9) in Waco and stayed on the heels of fifth-ranked Kansas (22-4, 11-2) going into Saturday's 7 p.m. game against the Jayhawks at the Ferrell Center. ESPN's College Gameday is also coming to town for the second-straight year, with Rece Davis hosting a show that starts at 10 a.m.
            "If you're a college basketball fan, you had to enjoy how two teams competed, battled and fought through fatigue," Baylor coach Scott Drew said. "I think probably the MVP of the game is (Baylor trainer) Dave Snyder in getting Adam back."
            Two days after missing Saturday's 72-62 home-court win over TCU with knee soreness, Flagler played a career-high 41 minutes and matched the career-high seven 3-pointers and 29 points that he scored his freshman season at Presbyterian in a game at UCLA.
             "Adam was tremendous," Drew said. "What won't show up is obviously his defense, leadership and some of those things. Instead of forcing the shot at the end, getting it to James and letting James get a good one, shows his maturity."
            Oklahoma State, on NCAA probation and ineligible for postseason play, missed its first nine shots before Isaac Likekele rebounded his own miss and scored on a second-chance layup at the 14:42 mark in the first half.
            Baylor went up 10-2 on a Jeremy Sochan jumper and Matthew Mayer's dunk off a steal. But, over the last 13 ½ minutes of the first half, the Cowboys hit 14 of their last 20 shots and took a 36-29 lead into the break.
            Flagler got off to a hot start, scoring 15 first-half points, hitting six of his first seven shots from the floor and 3-of-4 from outside the arc.
            "He's a big shot maker," Akinjo said of Flagler. "He's great at stretching the floor. Credit him, because he really did his thing tonight. He really got it going early and he just stayed with that same rhythm. We needed it big-time."
            Still trailing by seven a little over six minutes into the second half, the Bears went on a 13-2 run that included three 3-pointers by Flagler to go up 49-45.
            "My teammates did a great job finding me," Flagler said. "I had a lot of wide-open shots, and it's my job to knock them down. So, I had the easy part. But, credit to them for the game that I was able to have today."
            OSU battled back to tie it up three times and went up 58-57 with 1:27 left when Moussa Cisse made one of two free throws. Flagler gave Baylor the lead back with his seventh 3-pointer, but Likekele tied it up again on a second-chance layup with 42 seconds left.
            In a wild sequence at the end of regulation, Bryce Williams shot an airball from 3 that Likekele rebounded near the baseline and threw up a one-handed shot from behind the backboard that went through seemingly at the buzzer. But, the Cowboys had a shot clock violation.
            "We knew we were going into overtime," Flagler said. "The shot clock went off, and he had the ball in his hands. We were just trying to tell each other, stay calm, keep focused and let's take it to overtime. Toughest team wins."
            Flagler, who missed his only two shots in the OT period, showed his toughness by taking two charges in a stretch of a minute.
            "Adam's two charges were huge, huge plays," Drew said. "Those are winning plays right there. You needed them to win this game."
            Contributing on all of Baylor's scoring in the OT period, Akinjo fed Flo Thamba for a layup and then hit the two pull-up jumpers. On the last play, Flagler was supposed to take the shot coming off a triple screen, "but once I got going, they denied me," he said.
            "We knew that in the huddle, so we all told (Akinjo), 'just be ready, it's your time to shine,''' Flagler said "And we had all the confidence in him. When he made that shot, I was stoked, because at the end of the day I knew the job was going to be finished, because he's a killer."
            With the clock winding down, Likekele had to heave up a 3-pointer that bounced off the rim as time expired. Cisse recorded a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds, adding five blocks, while Likekele had 12 points, seven rebounds, two assists and two steals.
            Drew joked that Akinjo was "pacing himself," missing his first seven shots, but he was "being a good teammate and leader even though things weren't going well."
            Mayer "gutted it out," finishing with 12 points and six rebounds despite not feeling well, while Thamba had eight points and seven boards.