Box Score Moussa Cisse scored 18 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and blocked a shot in leading Oklahoma State to an 81-58 victory over West Virginia this afternoon at Gallaher-Iba Arena in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
 
Guard Avery Anderson III added 18 and Bryce Thompson contributed 13 for the Cowboys, which evened their overall record to 12-12.
 
"This is the second game (in the last three) when we just got big-boyed," West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said. "They just took it in and bounced it, bounced it and bounced it until they got close enough to score."
 
West Virginia, which snapped its season-long seven game losing streak earlier this week against Iowa State, reverted back to its old ways this afternoon.
 
The Mountaineers shot just 31.7% from the floor and was out-rebounded by 24 – 48 to 24. There were several instances in the second half when Oklahoma State grabbed multiple offensive rebounds before finally scoring.
 
West Virginia was also minus-24 in points in the paint, OSU scoring 40 to West Virginia's 16. 
 
The 3-ball kept the Mountaineers hanging around in the first half until a scoreless stretch late in the half helped the Cowboys to a 36-30 lead. Then, the wheels came off seven minutes into the second half when the Cowboys built a 20-point lead, dropped back into a zone defense and began milking the clock offensively.
 
An Isaiah Cottrell 3 with 7:03 left reduced Oklahoma State's lead to 12, 58-46, but Thompson quickly answered with a 3 from the corner and a Cisse layup got the margin back to 17.
 
Oklahoma State's largest lead was 25 with 1:03 left.
 
The Cowboys made 26 of 34 at the free throw line, including a couple at the end of the game when forward Gabe Osabuohien was assessed a double technical foul for arguing a foul call and was ejected from the game.
 
"Gabe's behavior is not what we're about – this is the third time and it's two different officials so you can't blame it on one guy," Huggins said. "It's a terrible representation of our basketball program and a terrible representation of our University."
 
Guard Malik Curry came off the bench to lead West Virginia with 13. Taz Sherman and Sean McNeil contributed 12 points each.
 
WVU shot 33% in the first half and 30% in the second half to finish the game connecting on only 19 of 60 for 31.7%.
 
McNeil made 60% of his shot attempts but managed to take only five. Curry was 5 of 8, so those two combined were 8 of 13, meaning the rest of the team was just 11 of 47.
 
"When you run a set you look at option one, then option two and maybe option three, and there were times when we didn't even look at option one," Huggins said. "And didn't even want to look at option one and that's frustrating when they cover option one and option two is wide open under the basket and we don't throw the ball to either one of them."
 
Today's loss keeps West Virginia (14-10, 4-8) below Oklahoma State, Kansas State and Oklahoma in the Big 12 standings and potentially at the bottom if Iowa State defeats the Wildcats in Ames. 
 
WVU remains on the road to face Kansas State on Monday night to conclude the two-game road trip.
 
"We're still at three (conference) wins and we're running out of chances," Huggins concluded.