Darwyn Alexander's streak is over. As a result, New Mexico's is still alive.
Alexander was fouled with 23 seconds left in a second-round National Invitation Tournament dogfight with New Mexico. With the score tied 88-88, it looked like money in the bank when the Cowboys' 83 percent foul shooter stepped to the line having made 24 in a row.
"If I had to pick one player to shoot a free throw with the game on the line, it would be Darwyn Alexander," Oklahoma State coach Leonard Hamilton said.
Not this time. Alexander missed the front end of the 1-and-1 and New Mexico's 7-foot-2 Luc Longley came down with the rebound. The Lobos worked the clock down to five seconds and Rob Robbins put up an off-balance 17-footer that was short, his only miss of the night.
Longley also grabbed that rebound - his 12th of the game but first at the offensive end - and finger-rolled it home for just his second basket of the game. The 90-88 victory sends New Mexico to the NIT quarterfinals for the third year in a row. The Lobos are appearing in a record seventh straight NIT.
In other second-round games Tuesday night, it was Hawaii 84, Long Beach State 79; DePaul 61, Cincinnati 59 and St. Louis 58, Wisconsin-Green Bay 54.
The third round finds Penn State at Rutgers and New Orleans at Vanderbilt Wednesday with DePaul at St. Louis and Hawaii at New Mexico on Thursday night.
New Mexico got a career-high 24 points from Kurt Miller and 23 from Robbins, who made nine of 10 shots, including five of six 3-pointers.
New Mexico coach Dave Bliss said he had no qualms about ordering his team to foul in a tie situation.
"We just wanted to make sure we had another possession," Bliss said. "Even if he makes them, we still have a chance to tie it or win."