Feb 10, 2018 3 min read

Road games against ranked teams don’t seem to be much of a problem for coach Mike Boynton Jr. and his Oklahoma State Cowboys.

Kendall Smith and Cameron McGriff each scored 20 points and Oklahoma State beat another ranked team on the road, topping No. 19 West Virginia 88-85 Saturday.

“We’re fighters,” Smith said. “Every man in that locker room is a fierce competitor. We knew coming in here wasn’t going to be easy but we believed in our coaching staff and we believed in our game plan.”

The Cowboys (5-7 Big 12, 15-10), who won at then-No. 7 Kansas last weekend, trailed by eight points with 13½ minutes left.

Jevon Carter had a career-high 33 points for West Virginia (7-5, 18-7), which has lost six of nine. His layup gave the Mountaineers a six-point lead with three minutes left.

Lindy Waters hit a 3-pointer that put the Cowboys ahead 86-85 in the final half-minute. After a missed three-point attempt by WVU’s Beetle Bolden, Smith found an unguarded Jeffrey Carroll who dunked for Oklahoma State to seal the win.

“I attacked and saw Lindy who’s an unbelievable shooter and who had just made one,” Smith said. “I trusted him, gave him the ball and he made another big shot.”

The Cowboys outrebounded West Virginia 12-1 off the Mountaineers’ offensive glass in the second half.

“I thought the key to the game was that we had to limit them to one shot per possession,” Boynton said. “They are obviously one of the most physical rebounding teams in the country every year. I think we held them to one offensive rebound in the second half and that put us over the top.”

Carroll added 14 points and Waters and Mitchell Solomon both scored 10. McGriff made all 13 of his foul shots and also had nine rebounds, leaving him one board short of his first career double-double.

Esa Ahmad added 16 points and Lamont West scored 10 for West Virginia.

Fordham 80, Duquesne 57: Freshman Ivan Raut scored a season-high 25 points on 8-of-11 shooting, Will Tavares and Prokop Slanina each had a double-double and Fordham beat Duquesne 80-57 for its first road victory of the season.

Tavares finished with 15 points, 10 rebounds and four assists and Slanina added 13 points with 11 boards. Perris Hicks also scored 13 points and Cavit Havsa had nine points with six assists for Fordham (4-8 Atlantic 10, 9-15).

Raut scored seven points during a 15-6 spurt that gave the Rams an eight-point lead midway through the first half and Havsa’s layup made it 32-23 at the break. Raut hit back-to-back 3s to open the second half to push the lead into double figures for good and Slanina’s layup with 12:02 to play capped an 11-0 run that made it 58-33.

Kellon Taylor led Duquesne (6-7, 15-11) with 13 points and seven rebounds. Mike Lewis II scored 10.

Fordham shot a season-high 60 percent (25 of 42), while the Dukes were 19-of-60 (32 percent) shooting.

Duquesne has lost three in a row and five of its last six.