North Texas holds off Oklahoma St., moves to NIT semifinals

Atin Wright scored 15 points Tuesday night and visiting North Texas survived a frightening final minute to hold off Oklahoma State for a 61-59 win in the NIT quarterfinals in Stillwater.In beating the Cowboys (17-18) at this stage for the second time in three years, the Mean Green (27-8) earned a bid to the semifinals on April 1 in Indianapolis against the winner of the UAB-UC Irvine game, which will be played Wednesday night.Jasper Floyd and reserve Brenen Lorient added 10 points each for North Texas, which led 61-52 with 1:11 left and nearly blew it as Oklahoma State took advantage of turnovers.The Cowboys got within two on a bucket by Bryce Thompson with 41.7 seconds remaining and had a chance to tie or win.Coach Steve Lutz took a timeout with 0.7 seconds on the clock to rescue the last possession. Oklahoma State got Brandon Newman open for a 3-pointer from the wing before time expired, but his shot banged off the iron.Newman and Thompson each finished with 17 points, while Arturo Dean added 12. The team’s second-leading scorer, Abou Ousmane, made only two of seven shots and scored just four points — eight under his average.

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