Kalib Boone, Oklahoma State fight off West Virginia in front of Cowboy legend Marcus Smart

STILLWATER — Oklahoma State forward Kalib Boone sized up the West Virginia defender and then spun to his right, softly putting the basketball off the backboard for a layup.

Then he raised his arms as he ran down the court.

Gallagher-Iba Arena’s crowd got louder.

Cowboys coach Mike Boynton slammed the floor asking for more noise and more defense. Assistant coach Terrence Rencher was in his own defensive stance.

With more than 3 minutes remaining in a tight game, the Cowboys were feeling the energy from their 6-foot-9 senior.

“When KB’s going, when he’s amped and fired up, we as a team just come together,” OSU point guard John-Michael Wright said.

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That energy spread at just the right moment.

OSU held off a furious second-half rally by West Virginia for a 67-60 win Monday night, splitting the first two Big 12 games of the season in a three-day span.

“Certainly thankful to get out of there with a win,” Boynton said. “That’s what you have to do in this conference.”

The Cowboys (9-5, 1-1) led by as much as 13 until Mountaineers guard Erik Stevenson hit three straight 3-pointers as part of a 9-2 run with 7:17 remaining to take the lead.

But Stevenson got a technical foul after his last trey, saying something and making an inappropriate gesture to former Cowboys superstar Marcus Smart, who was sitting courtside along with others from the Boston Celtics.

Not long after, Stevenson fouled out.

And OSU resettled, outsourcing the Mountaineers 13-5 down the stretch.

“It’s a huge change,” West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said about Stevenson’s technical foul. “I can’t say it’s not. It’s a huge change. He knows better.

“Kenyon Martin was a fiery guy. Kenyon Martin didn’t do stupid things to get technicals and hurt his team. But he was fiery guy. Pete Michael was a fiery guy. I’ve had a lot of fiery guys, but I haven’t had any hurt their teammates. That’s not right.”

Bryce Thompson led OSU with 15 points, while Avery Anderson III scored 13 before fouling out. John-Michael Wright also had 11 points.

Stevenson led West Virginia with 17 points. Tre Mitchell also scored 16.

Here are three takeaways from the win:

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Moussa Cisse suffers injury

With 9:40 remaining in the opening half, Gallagher-Iba Arena got very quiet as Moussa Cisse rolled around on the ground clutching his lower left leg.

The Cowboys’ 7-foot-1 star rolled his ankle and appeared to be in considerable pain before he went to the bench and then the locker room.

He missed the remainder of the half and nearly the first 8 minutes of the second half before returning to a strong ovation.

But he was not the same.

With a noticeable limp, Cisse battled. He was unable to execute a lob dunk, but Boone got the putback on the miss.

“I don’t know,” Boynton said about Cisse’s health moving forward. “Obviously, you saw we put him back in there. I don’t know if it’s stiff or swelled up. He felt good enough to give us something but we’ll have probably a better report as we go through the week.”

In a physical game, the Cowboys needed the inside presence of Cisse. When he was 100%, he was his usual self. Without him in the lineup, the Cowboys turned to their other three bigs.

Tyreek Smith was huge in 27 minutes. He scored just four points and grabbed six rebounds, but he also defended 6-foot-10, 285-pound Jimmy Bell Jr. well. 2

“He’s a man,” Boynton said about Bell. “But Tyreek battled, came up with huge rebounds for us and obviously set some really good screens and just held the line defensively for us while Moussa was out.”

Even Bernard Kouma stepped up, playing 3 valuable minutes in the opening half. He played stout defense and drew a charge.

“Obviously, he didn’t win the game, but he certainly made sure we held the line for a little while while he was in there,” Boynton said.

Kalib Boone shuts the door

For four seasons, Boone has been an up-and-down player.

Saturday against Kansas, he scored just two points and largely struggled. But when he’s on, the Cowboys generally have success.

Like Monday night.

With Cisse clearly hobbled, Boone stepped up.

His layup with 3:20 sparked the crowd and team. With 34.9 seconds remaining, he also buried a smooth left-handed hook shot for a 65-60 lead.

“We really get on him in practice and even in games to keep his energy high,” Wright said. “Because when his energy is high everybody responds well to it. That’s what he did tonight.

“He saw the ball go in the hole and it spread across the team. We were able to get in tune with the crowd and I believe that really won us the game.”

Boone scored six of his 10 points in the final 4:54. He finished the night with six rebounds.

Boone also made two heads up plays, throwing a basketball off a West Virginia defender while falling out of bounds to keep possession with the Cowboys.

One came late in a key moment..

“He must have been coming in and practicing that off one of the managers or something,” Wright said. “I had never seen him do that until tonight. We like that skill.”

A much-needed win

The Cowboys led by 13 in the second half. Later, they trailed.

Such is life in the second half for this OSU team.

The Cowboys entered the night with three blown double-digit leads in the final 20 minutes this season, losing each time.

Losses to Southern Illinois and UCF as a result will really hurt come March. The loss to Kansas on Saturday might have boosted OSU in the metrics.

This time, the Cowboys found a way to close it out.

And it came in the best time possible.

The Cowboys needed this win in a big way.

“You’re sitting on Jan. 2 with five losses and people just can’t understand that because you haven’t played a bunch of Big 12 teams prior to this,” Boynton said. “Again, I’m not going to sit back as a guy who watches these kids practice and see the growth we’ve made and ignore it and then not be able to tell people what’s actually happening.

“Our team is significantly better today than we were on Dec. 2.”

Had the Cowboys fallen, they would have opened Big 12 play with an 0-2 record for the fifth time in six years under Boynton.

And the way the conference is constructed this year, that could be a disaster.

No. 6 Texas looms on Saturday. Improving Kansas State awaits next Tuesday in Manhattan, Kansas. No. 19 Baylor hosts the Cowboys the following Saturday.

But the Cowboys are building confidence while improving.

Monday night was actual proof.

“The improvement of these kids individually but us collectively, it’s hard to ignore unless you want to be, you know, a butthole about it,” Boynton said.

Jacob Unruh covers college sports for The Oklahoman. You can send your story ideas to him at junruh@oklahoman.com or on Twitter at @jacobunruh. Support his work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma State basketball beats West Virginia in front of Marcus Smart