STILLWATER, Okla. -- After a career night, Brad Buckman could only wait and watch to see if Texas would pay for his one big mistake.
After tying his career-high with 27 points Saturday night, Buckman fouled Oklahoma State's Terrence Crawford on a desperation 3-point try with 0.3 seconds left and gave the eighth-ranked Cowboys a chance to tie on their vaunted home court.
When Crawford missed his second foul shot, Buckman was finally able to exhale and Texas was assured of a 74-73 win.
"It was a fun and exciting end, but it could almost give you a heart attack," Buckman said.
The Cowboys (20-6, 11-5) rallied from six points down in the final 48 seconds before blowing the chance to tie it.
John Lucas III brought Oklahoma State within 71-68 on a floater in the lane, and neither Kenny Taylor or Buckman could put the game away at the foul line for Texas (20-9, 9-7 Big 12). Taylor was 1-for-2 with 18.9 seconds left and Buckman missed both his free throws after grabbing the offensive rebound on Taylor's miss.
Crawford's 3-pointer with 3.9 seconds left brought Oklahoma State within one point. After two free throws by Gibson put Texas up 74-71, Crawford got the inbounds pass and Buckman fouled him behind midcourt while he was attempting a desperation shot.
"It wasn't designed that way," Buckman said. "I was supposed to foul him before so he'd get two shots instead of three and we'd have a chance to run out the clock, but he called a foul when he was shooting. Luckily, he missed the free throw and we got the win."
Texas coach Rick Barnes said he thought Buckman had fouled Crawford before he was in the act of shooting.
"I looked at coach's face and I was like, 'God, what'd I do?'" Buckman said.
After missing the second of the three foul shots, Crawford -- a 78 percent free-throw shooter -- was supposed to intentionally miss his third. The Cowboys substituted their tallest players to go after the miss for a game-tying tip-in.
But the free-throw hit the back of the rim and fell through, and Oklahoma State's chances to win fell, too.
Crawford, who'd attempted only 41 free throws in the Cowboys' previous 26 games, wasn't supposed to end up at the foul line. The play was designed for him to pass to a wing player streaking toward the frontcourt, but he bobbled the ball and improvised.
"It's a tough situation for him," Oklahoma State associate head coach Sean Sutton said. "It wasn't his fault. That shot wasn't what lost the game. ... We lost this game because of defense and rebounding."
The Cowboys were outrebounded 37-29 and allowed Texas to shoot 53 percent. Oklahoma State, which had been the nation's best 3-point shooting team at 43.5 percent -- was only 7-for-24 from 3-point range for 29 percent. To Sutton's disappointment, the 24 3-point attempts tied Oklahoma State's season-high.
He credited Texas' zone defense for forcing the outside shot.
"I think they did a better job of keeping the ball out of the high post area and then I thought our perimeter players wouldn't throw the ball in there," Sutton said. "They started settling for jump shots."
The loss ended Oklahoma State's home-court winning streak -- the longest in the nation -- at 29 games. The Cowboys hadn't lost at home since Feb. 24, 2003, against Texas Tech.
Taylor finished with 11 points and was the only other Texas player in double figures. The Longhorns claimed their 20th win for a school-record sixth straight time and kept from falling to .500 in league play -- dangerous territory for a team seeking an NCAA Tournament berth.
"I do not know how we cannot be in the tournament," Barnes said. "We have two quality wins against an outstanding team -- a team that people think is possibly a two seed.
"We came into an environment that is tough, and if anyone was watching tonight it would be hard for us to find 34 (at-large) teams that deserve to be in above us."
Joey Graham scored 17 to lead Oklahoma State, JamesOn Curry added 16, Lucas 13 and Ivan McFarlin and Crawford had 12 each.
Texas took control with a 9-0 run fueled by Sydmill Harris midway through the second half. Jason Klotz scored on the left block to start the run that put Texas ahead for good, and Harris and Buckman added two free throws apiece before Harris sunk a 3-pointer from 24 feet to give the Longhorns a 60-56 lead.
From there, they hit enough free throws to clinch the win -- and Oklahoma State didn't convert one that could've been the difference.
