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Smart, OK State struggle in loss
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LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — Marcus Smart had an off game and Oklahoma State lost in a rematch with Memphis.

Shaq Goodwin had 17 points, Joe Jackson hit four key late free throws and No. 21 Memphis beat No. 5 Oklahoma State 73-68 Sunday night in the championship game of the Old Spice Classic.

Memphis (5-1) held Smart, a preseason All-American, to 12 points. Smart, who played with stomach virus-type symptoms, went 4 for 13 from the field and had five turnovers.

“That’s definitely not an excuse,” Smart said. “They did an excellent job executing their scouting report. I couldn’t find a groove out there.”

In a meeting between the teams on Nov. 19, Oklahoma State (7-1) won handily over Memphis, getting 39 points from Smart in a 101-80 victory.

“It didn’t catch me off guard,” Smart said. “I knew they were going to make adjustments because of how I played last game. I was fully expecting it. Things weren’t falling my way.”

Smart turned the ball over with Oklahoma State trailing by one with 11 seconds left, and fouled Jackson, who made two free throws to make it 71-68.

Oklahoma State’s bid to tie it ended when Smart had another turnover in the final seconds and Jackson connected on two more free throws.

“They deserved to win, we didn’t deserve to win,” Oklahoma State coach Travis Ford said. “We just weren’t ourselves. Not taking anything away from Memphis at all, but we were our own worst enemy on a lot of occasions. I’m a little surprised that it was even, as bad as we played, as close as it was. Give Memphis credit, they were a very determined basketball team.”

Chris Crawford scored on a layup and later added a free throw to put Memphis ahead 69-64 with 2½ minutes left. Smart, who missed 9 of his first 11 shots, had consecutive baskets that pulled the Cowboys within 69-68 with 2 minutes to play.

“On the defensive end, we didn’t play like we’re used to,” Smart said. “Some costly buckets at costly times.”

Crawford finished with 16 points, while Jackson had 11.

“I’m not a revenge guy,” Memphis coach Josh Pastner said. “I’m not like an ill-will guy. I think when you hold things in, things come out sideways. I talked to our guys about that. We needed to have course correction, and we corrected some of the course.”

Michael Dixon Jr. hit a jumper and 3-pointer as Memphis went ahead 56-52 with 8 minutes remaining.

Memphis scored the first seven points in the second half, including a 3-point play by Goodwin, to cut its deficit to 42-39. After Memphis’ Geron Johnson was given a technical foul, Phil Forte made two free throws and added a 3-pointer to make it 47-39.

Forte had nine of 19 points as Oklahoma overcame a six-point deficit to take a 42-32 lead at halftime.