Cunningham may turn pro

INDIANAPOLIS — Oklahoma State ran into a red-hot Oregon State team and fell 70-80 Sunday in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

It was a big disappointment for a Cowboy team that finished second in the Big 12 Tournament.

“We really try to invest in these kids as people,” said OSU coach Mike Boynton said. “And when you do that, you become like family. It really becomes like they’re your kids and to see their faces and disappoint. Knowing, the truth of the matter is, even if it’s just Cade (Cunningham) our team will not be the same next year.

“The thing I’m most disappointed in is I don’t get to coach them as a group. I don’t get to see them at practice tomorrow. I still get to have them in my life for a long time but in this environment it’s difficult”

Oregon State’s Ethan Thompson led all scorers with 26 points as the No. 12 seeded Beavers continues on to the Sweet Sixteen. They will play No. 8 seed Loyola Chicago Saturday at 1:30 p.m. on CBS. Loyola upset No. 1 seed Illinois on Sunday.

“We’ve got some talented, talented teams in our league,” said Beaver coach Wayne Tinkle. “We’re obviously putting everybody on notice. I’m very happy for our program, but I’m extremely happy for the Pac-12 Conference.

“Maybe now we’ll get some (expletive) respect.”

Maurice Calloo, who transferred from Oklahoma State, scored 15 points and Jarod Lucas also had 15 for the Beavers.

OSU’s Cade Cunningham, a first-team All-American and maybe the top NBA draft pick, scored 24 points for Oklahoma State (21-9).

Cunningham would not say if he planned to turn pro now but he was grateful for this season at Oklahoma State.

“I think that’s the best way to describe it,” Cunningham said. “I think the biggest thing is I surrounded myself with great people. More than anything that’s the thing I’m most proud of. I feel like I’ve grown the most by just being around good people that pushed me to be somebody good on the court and off the court. I’m going to miss it for sure.”

Avery Anderson scored 16 points and Keylan Boone  added 13 for Oklahoma State in a game that was delayed for 20 minutes at the start by a power outage.

For some reason, the Cowboy offense sputtered at times.

“I thought tonight we weren’t in sync as much as I would have liked,” Boynton said.

“And that caused both Avery and Cade to kind of have to try to make more individual plays which they’re capable of but it wasn’t a great recipe for us in today’s game.”

Oregon State (19-12) was picked to finish last in the Pac 12 and had to win the conference tournament just to make the NCAA field. The Beavers beat No. 5 seed Tennessee in the first round.

The Cowboys got as close as two points on a basket by Cunningham before Oregon State responded and went up 11. Oklahoma State made one last rally. Boone made a 3-pointer, then Cunningham stole the ball and made a 3 to trim Oregon State’s lead to 70-67 with 3:39 remaining. Oregon State pulled away at the free-throw line.

On Friday, Anderson scored 21 points and added seven rebounds as the Cowboys beat ASUN Conference champions Liberty 69-60 in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.

It was Liberty’s first loss since Jan. 15.

“I just go out there and do what I need to do for my team to win games,” Anderson said. “And at that point my team had needed some scoring. Luckily I had good teammates and they saw I got it going early and they just kept feeding me the ball.”

Cunningham scored nine of OSU’s last 11 points as the Cowboys pulled ahead for good after trailing by three points as the half.

“I don’t really worry about Cade,” Boynton said. “I think everybody else worries about him a lot more than I do. I’ve known the kid since he was 14. I know how he’s wired. And I know that he wants to play to win.

“And if that means he’s got to score 10 points and get other guys involved and allow other guys like Avery Anderson or Matthew-Alexander (Moncrieffe) or (Isaac Likekele), kind of carry the load offensively, he’s comfortable with that. That’s what’s given us a chance to have a really successful season.”

Playing in the tough Big 12 Conference helped OSU prepare for games in the postseason.

“Coming into the game, we had that sense of urgency,” Anderson said. “It’s win or go home. We kept that in mind the whole game and fought to the end and that’s what we did.”

Elijah Cuffee shot 4-of-6 from 3 and scored 16 points for Liberty. The Flames have the sixth-best 3-point shooting percentage in the country and finished just under their season average of 39% by going 8-for-21.

OSU forced Liberty team to commit a season-high 18 turnovers after they had averaged fewer than 10 turnovers a game. Anderson led OSU with four steals.

“It was our defense that was leading us,” Boynton said. “You’re playing against really good teams. There are no bad teams in this event. And obviously we played a team that’s used to winning and has a great identity that they play to all the time.

“So it took a little bit for our guys to get adjusted to it, but I thought we made the proper adjustments to start the second half and trying to just will ourselves to the basket and get ourselves to the free-throw line, and it ended up paying big dividends for us.”