National Basketball Association
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Oklahoma St. 79, Missouri 72
When: 7:30 PM ET, Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Where: Gallagher-Iba Arena, Stillwater, Oklahoma
Officials: # Joe DeRosa, # John Higgings, # Bert Smith
Attendance: 9476

Le’Bryan Nash caught fire in the second half en route to a career-high 27 points and host Oklahoma State stunned No. 2 Missouri 79-72 on Wednesday.

Nash, a top recruit who has had an up-and-down freshman season, scored 19 of his points in the second half, 13 of which came in a four-minute blitz that helped the Cowboys (10-10, 3-4 Big 12) turn a 61-53 deficit into a 70-65 lead with 2:28 remaining.

Missouri (18-2, 5-2 Big 12) led by eight points on multiple occasions in the second half, but Oklahoma State’s 59.6 percent shooting was too much to overcome.

Nash hit five straight shots late in the game, including three 3-pointers, the last coming on a pull-up 3 to break a 65-65 tie with just less than three minutes remaining.

Freshman Brian Williams added a career-high 22 points and Keiton Page had 12 for the Cowboys, who snapped a three-game losing skid.

Ricardo Ratliffe, the nation’s leader in field goal percentage, shot 10 for 17 and had 25 points and 12 rebounds to lead Missouri, which finished only 4 of 19 from long range.

The Tigers’ loss means No. 5 Kansas has a two-game lead atop the Big 12 standings.

Oklahoma State led 37-36 at halftime, but Missouri quickly regained the lead after the break. The Cowboys cut it to 56-53 on an electrifying alley-oop from Page to Markel Brown, but Brown was whistled for a technical foul for trash talking after the dunk. That was Brown’s second technical of the game, resulting in disqualification.

Momentum appeared to momentarily shift to the Tigers at that point before Nash took over.
Top Game Performances
 
Missouri   Oklahoma St.
Ricardo Ratliffe 25 Scoring Le'Bryan Nash 27
Michael Dixon Jr. 2 Assists Keiton Page 5
Ricardo Ratliffe 12 Rebounds Michael Cobbins 10
Marcus Denmon 7 Free Throws Made Brian Williams 10
Phil Pressey 4 Steals Michael Cobbins 4
Steve Moore 1 Blocks Michael Cobbins 3
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
Missouri 72 40.0 4-19 16-18 8 30 2 11 10
Oklahoma St. 79 59.6 5-13 12-14 14 32 7 7 16