By Owen Canfield
The Associated Press

STILLWATER, Okla. - Two nights after its biggest victory of the season, No. 16 Oklahoma State took another costly loss at home.

The Cowboys, who beat then-No. 3 Texas on Saturday, led by 13 in the first half and by a dozen early in the second before Texas Tech rallied for a 62-57 victory Monday night.

Andre Emmett and Kasib Powell led the comeback for the Red Raiders, who had lost five of their first six Big 12 road games. Emmett, the league's leading scorer at 21.7 points per game, had 30 and Powell 17.

"This was a game, as was the game Saturday, where we made plays we had to make," said Tech coach Bob Knight, whose team beat Texas A&M 70-69 on Saturday. "Sometimes we haven't made those plays."

Oklahoma State (20-6, 9-4) began the night one game behind Kansas and Oklahoma in the conference race, but likely cost itself any shot at the title.

The Cowboys struggled in their half-court sets and wound up shooting 38.6 percent (22-of-57). Leading scorer Victor Williams had just 10 on 2-of-12 shooting.

"What can I say? We just (gave) away a chance at a league title," said Andre Williams, who had 16 rebounds and five blocks before fouling out with 51/2 minutes left. "We had a chance to control our own destiny."

The loss was the second in the past three games at home; the Cowboys were beaten by Baylor on Feb. 15.

The Red Raiders (16-8, 6-7 Big 12) shot poorly in scoring just 18 first-half points. But Emmett and Powell got going in the second half to help keep Tech's NCAA tournament chances alive.

With the Red Raiders trailing by 12 three minutes into the second half, Powell scored 12 points and Emmett had four in a 16-3 run that gave Tech a 39-38 lead with 12:17 remaining.

It remained a one-possession game until Emmett capped a 7-0 run with a three-point play to give Tech a 54-50 lead with 6:14 remaining.

The Cowboys got within a point twice after that, the final time 58-57 on a follow shot by Ivan McFarlin with 1:52 to play. But they didn't score after that.

Emmett, meanwhile, got inside for a basket with 1:34 left for a 60-57 lead, and after Melvin Sanders missed a 3-point try from the right corner, Will Chavis sealed it with two free throws with 8.2 seconds remaining.

"This is how we have to play," said Powell, who had 15 points in the second half. "We've lost a lot of games that we should have won. Our record is not as good as we want it to be. We know we can play with anybody."

Emmett did most of his damage against Sanders, arguably the best defender in the conference. In addition to his points, Emmett had nine rebounds, four assists and six steals.

"I thought perhaps Emmett played the best all-around game of basketball I've seen him play in two years," Knight said. "In every phase of the game, he was a factor."

Sanders led Oklahoma State with 17 points and Tony Allen had 13, although Allen was just 5-of-13 from the field.

The Cowboys started out just 5-for-19 from the field as Tech kept them from getting many fast-break chances, and it was tied at 14 when Emmett scored inside with just under eight minutes to play.

A follow shot by Allen started a 14-5 run to close the half. Tech committed six turnovers during that time, missed four shots and went 0-for-4 from the free throw line to fall behind 29-18 at halftime.

"When we were still in it at the half, our thought was let's see if we can get this thing back in the last eight minutes where we'd have a chance to win the game," Knight said. "We pretty basically did that."