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Oklahoma State keeps its NCAA Tournament hopes alive

Mar 10, 2007 - 6:30 AM OKLAHOMA CITY (Ticker) -- Mario Boggan made the shots when it mattered to keep Oklahoma State's season alive.

Boggan scored just 11, but had five big points down the stretch as the Cowboys upset seventh-ranked Texas A&M, 57-56, in the Big 12 tournament quarterfinals.

Following a timeout with 21 seconds remaining, Boggan drove to the basket and put up a running jump shot from the right side of the lane, giving the Cowboys a 57-56 edge with 13 seconds to play.

"Coach, he drew up a good play," Boggan said. "He just wanted me to get the ball and go hard to the hole. I mean, that's what I put in my head, go to the basket. Don't settle for a jump shot. Rip through and get to the basket and try to finish."

The Aggies had an opportunity to win the game, but missing three straight shots in the final seconds.

"All they ask is for you to go out and play your butts off and leave it all on the court," Oklahoma State coach Sean Sutton said. "So far the first two nights we have been able to do that."

The Cowboys advanced to Saturday's semifinals, where they will face third-seeded Texas.

Texas A&M had a nine-point advantage with 15 minutes to play after holding Oklahoma State's top two scorers - Boggan and JamesOn Curry - to a combined four points at that point.

"Usually when they get a lead like that, we might put our head down," Boggan said. "We might not make a stop, but tonight we made plays on the defensive end. That was most important."

However, Bogan and Curry came alive down the stretch, with Curry giving the Cowboys their first lead 55-53 on a 3-pointer that capped a 19-10 run with 3:43 remaining.

Josh Carter hit a 3-pointer to put the Aggies back on top at 56-55 slighty more than a minute later, but the team did not make another shot after that.

"It was a tough loss for us," Texas A&M coach Billy Gillispie said. "They played really hard and I thought both teams played fairly hard and we couldn't execute the way we needed to. We didn't finish plays in the basket."

David Monds scored 11 points and Curry had nine for Oklahoma State, which was down 53-47 with 5:59 left before putting together an 8-0 run. A 3-pointer by Boggan closed the Cowboys within 53-52 with 4:28 to play.

Joseph Jones led Texas A&M with 18 points and Carter added 14. Leading scorer Acie Law IV was held to just 10 points on 5-of-12 shooting.