STILLWATER, Okla. -- The free-throw line, the Big 12's top scorer and an ear-splitting crowd couldn't faze Tony Allen.
Oklahoma State's star guard easily handled the first two obstacles and embraced the third, scoring 20 points to lead the 18th-ranked Cowboys to a 70-66 win over No. 13 Texas Tech in a foul-plagued game Saturday night.
"I thought (Allen) did a really great job on (Andre) Emmett," Oklahoma State coach Eddie Sutton said. "I thought Tony also did a very good job of being able to drive the basket and get fouled."
The Cowboys (15-2, 5-1 Big 12) are on a five-game winning streak, putting them into a three-way tie for first place in the conference with Kansas and Texas.
Allen was unusually reliable for a 59 percent free-throw shooter, going 12-for-14 at the line.
But it was Allen's smothering second-half defense on Emmett, the league's leading scorer at 21.5 points a game, that clinched the win.
Emmett finished with 15 points and 13 rebounds, but didn't score a basket in the final 16 minutes and couldn't even free himself to get the ball down the stretch. His final shot bounced off the rim, appropriately enough, when Allen stuck a hand in his face at the last moment.
"I knew defensively I was going to have to check him," Allen said of Emmett, who scored 32 points in Tech's 83-62 win over the Cowboys three weeks ago. "Last game I was kind of mad that I didn't check him."
As the final seconds burned off the clock, Allen clapped his hands and exhorted the frenzied crowd of 13,611 in Gallagher-Iba Arena to yell even louder. He practically skipped into the locker room when the game was finally over.
Tech coach Bob Knight, who's tough to impress even on his best days, didn't hide his displeasure with Emmett's second-straight subpar game - he has scored a total of 24 points on 9-of-26 shooting.
"I don't think that Emmett has worked very hard offensively in the last two games," Knight said. "I am not very happy with Emmett's play."
Jarrius Jackson led the Red Raiders with 22 points.
Texas Tech (16-3, 4-1) has lost two straight after having its 12-game winning streak snapped by Texas in a 62-61 loss in Lubbock on Monday.
This one may hurt just as much.
"I thought it was a game that we didn't throw away. I feel like we had chances and they had chances," Knight said. "I thought the Texas game was one that we just threw away."
The game got bogged down in the game's final few minutes as the teams traded foul shots on nearly every possession. Thirty-two fouls were called in the second half, including seven on seven straight possessions.
How bad did it get?
There were 29 fouls and only 36 field goal attempts in the game's final 14 minutes.
Boos and whistles filled the air, frustrating the crowd and turning the game into a glorified free throw shooting contest.
Not everyone was bothered was the game's herky-jerky pace.
"I told one of the referees during one of the free throws, I said, 'This is great, this is what conference basketball is about,"' said Oklahoma State guard Daniel Bobik, who missed two free throws with 30 seconds left that would have clinched the win. John Lucas hit four free throws in the final 12 seconds, finishing with 15 points for Oklahoma State, and Joey Graham had 13.
The emotions of the close game bubbled over with 8:39 left when a fan threw a water bottle on the floor after Graham was called for an offensive foul.
Knight allowed the officials to wave off what could have been a technical foul, but Sutton still grabbed the public announcer's microphone and told the crowd to stop throwing things on the court.
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