Oklahoma State men's basketball team guns down No. 2 Missouri

STILLWATER, Okla. -- Frank Haith understood the dangers that came along with Missouri earning its highest ranking in a decade just before what looked like a lull in the schedule.

If it hadn't already, the lesson certainly settled in with his players when Oklahoma State's fans stormed the court in celebration of a 79-72 upset of the second-ranked Tigers on Wednesday night.

Freshman swingman Le'Bryan Nash scored a career-high 27 points, Brian Williams added a career-best 22 and Oklahoma State shot an uncharacteristic 59 percent from the field to hand Mizzou (18-2, 5-2 Big 12) only its second loss of the season.

"When you play on the road and you've got the bull's-eye on your chest, you're going to get everybody's best effort. We've stressed that with our guys," said Haith, the Tigers' first-year coach. "We understand that we were going to get Oklahoma State's very best effort tonight, and we did. We got their very best effort. They didn't get our very best effort."

Nash scored 13 points during a 17-4 burst that sent the Cowboys (10-10, 3-4 Big 12) into the lead in the final four minutes, and the Tigers didn't have a response.

Oklahoma State guard Keiton Page, bottom, and Missouri guard Phil Pressey struggle for a loose ball during the first half Wednesday in Stillwater, Okla. (BRODY SCHMIDT ~ Associated Press)

Nash hit a jumper and a 3-pointer to get it going, then nailed another 3 from the left side to give the Cowboys a 65-64 lead with 3 minutes, 23 seconds to play. He connected on another 29 seconds later and ran to the opposite end of the court when Missouri called timeout to encourage a student section that already was hopping up and down.

The students rushed the court and huddled around Oklahoma State's players at midcourt when the clock hit zero.

The Tigers had been on a high after an 89-88 win at then-No. 3 Baylor on Saturday, the program's first road win over a top-five team since 1994.

"In our league, one win or one loss can't determine the rest of the week because you've got to play another good team," said Marcus Denmon, who scored 17 points. "We've got to regain our focus and get ready for the next game on Saturday."

Ricardo Ratliffe had 25 points and 12 rebounds to lead Missouri, which came in ranked second in the nation by making 51 percent of its shots this season. The Cowboys were last in the Big 12 at 41 percent and hadn't surpassed 49 percent against an NCAA opponent all season.

But the roles ended up being reversed.

"We were allowing them to be where they wanted," Haith said. "We didn't have enough physicality against them ... and I think we were avoiding contact as opposed to attacking."

Ratliffe's three-point play off a spinning bucket at the right block gave the Tigers their largest lead at 53-45 with 14:22 to play, but it didn't last.

"We didn't do what we needed to do to finish the game out once we got control of the game," Haith said.