BY JEFF WALKER l A-J SPORTS EDITOR

When Oklahoma State hosted Texas Tech for the teams’ first meeting this season, the Cowboys led for a little more than a minute of the 40-minute game — including when it counted the most, at the end.

In the return matchup Wednesday at United Spirit Arena, the Cowboys controlled the game from start to finish, and led nearly as long.

Texas Tech men's basketball vs Oklahoma State Wednesday night at United Spirit Arena. Wednesday, February 18, 2009 (Geoffrey McAllister/Lubbock Avalanche-Journal)

But the Cowboys, who are used to falling behind big early and then rallying, had a reversal of that trend against the Red Raiders.

OSU needed 11 free throws in the final 1:21 to seal a 92-82 victory in front of an announced crowd of 10,055.

The Red Raiders trailed by as many as 24 points in the second half before making a strong comeback bid.

“Obviously, it’s disappointing because we played these guys better in Stillwater than we did tonight,” said Tech associate head coach Chris Beard, who filled in for head coach Pat Knight for the postgame news conference because Knight was still addressing the team. “Give Oklahoma State a lot of credit. … We just dug ourselves a hole. We did have a comeback, but unfortunately it was too late. The frustrating thing from a coaching side is that we tend to dig these holes and then come out and play the way we’d hoped to play from the start.”

Mike Singletary, who finished with a season-high 24 points, led the Tech charge before fouling out with 34.7 seconds to play. Singletary finished one point shy of his career high.

The Cowboys led 64-40 at the 12:17 mark, but Tech went on a 28-10 run over the next nine minutes to make this a game again.

Oklahoma State's Marshall Moses dives to the floor to battle for possession with Texas Tech men's John Roberson during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game at United Spirit Arena in Lubbock, Texas, Wednesday Feb. 18, 2009. (AP photo/Geoffrey McAllister/Lubbock Avalanche-Journal)

The Red Raiders had the deficit under 20 at the 8:12 mark when Singletary hit a jumper to cut the OSU lead to 73-54. The deficit was under 15 when Singletary made a pair of free throws at the 6:18 mark, trimming OSU’s lead to 73-60.

For the first time since the 7:16 mark of the first half, Tech cut the deficit to single digits at the 4:23 mark of the second half when Singletary’s dunk cut OSU’s lead to 74-66.

The deficit proved to be too large for the Red Raiders to overcome, however.

“I think from an Xs and Os standpoint, we missed some easy shots, some free throws at the start of the game and Oklahoma State hit some tough shots,” Beard said. “… The frustrating thing, and far more important than the Xs and Os, is just the lack of competitiveness during the stretch run (of the season). We didn’t like our body language. Pat called several timeouts at the start of the game to address it. I thought we played a little better at the end of the first half, but give Oklahoma State credit, they hit their shots.”

Texas Tech's Robert Lewandowski (15) shoots over Oklahoma State's Nick Sidorakis, right, and Byron Eaton, left, during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game at United Spirit Arena in Lubbock, Texas, Wednesday Feb. 18, 2009. Wednesday, February 18, 2009 (Geoffrey McAllister/Lubbock Avalanche-Journal)

Tech (12-14, 2-9 Big 12 Conference) committed nine first-half turnovers — most coming on bad passes — and Oklahoma State shot 57 percent from 3-point range before the break.

The Cowboys (16-9, 5-6) entered the game leading the Big 12 in 3-point field goal percentage (39 percent) and average 3-pointers made per game (9.8).

OSU nearly reached its average by halftime, hitting 8 of 14 from beyond the arc in the first half. The Cowboys finished 12 of 25 (48 percent) from 3-point range for the game.

“We certainly made a focus in our game plan to try and take away the three,” Beard said. “At the same time, we didn’t want (Byron) Eaton living in the lane and shooting 2-pointers like he did in Stillwater.”

Eaton finished with 29 points in the first meeting, hitting 18 of 20 from the free-throw line. He finished with 14 on Wednesday.

Tech, meanwhile, got its first 3-pointer from Alan Voskuil at the 16:41 mark of the first half — making the Red Raider the 32nd player in school history to reach 1,000 career points.

Tech’s next 3-pointer — by Nick Okorie — didn’t come until the 10:57 mark of the second half when the Red Raiders trailed 68-46.

The game wasn’t indicative of the ones lately between these two teams. Eight of the previous 10 matchups were decided by single digits, including Oklahoma State’s 81-80 victory on Feb. 4 in Stillwater.

The Red Raiders never led, tying the score twice at five and 11 before the Cowboys gained control.

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