Utah’s toughness did not travel to Stillwater, Oklahoma.

The Runnin’ Utes, who had the opportunity to move to .500 in Big 12 play at the midpoint of their conference schedule, instead were beaten by a more active Oklahoma State squad, 81-72, on Saturday afternoon at Gallagher-Iba Arena.

Utah fell behind big early, and then after it rallied to make it more competitive at times, the Cowboys pulled away for good early in the second half.

“Disappointing” was a popular word choice for Utah coach Craig Smith in describing the effort in a game the Utes were slight favorites to earn just their second true road win of the year.

Oklahoma State got out to a 12-3 lead, then pushed it to double digits at 19-7, all before folks who had made a quick trip to the concession stands had a chance to settle in their seats.

“It wasn’t an aesthetically pleasing game, but it’s a game, quite frankly, (we) anticipated with it just being physical and hard nosed,” Smith said in his postgame interview on 700 AM. “Disappointing start to the game where we’re down 12 and they scored, I think, five or six out of their first seven possessions.”

The Utes briefly made things interesting in a game they trailed from start to finish, going on their own run to make it 21-19 on a Caleb Lohner bucket, but that was as close as Utah would get.

Oklahoma State used a 12-5 spurt late in the first half to take an eight-point lead into the break, at 41-33.

While Smith liked how his team corrected and made it a one-possession game for a moment, the end of the half was discouraging.

“We didn’t finish the half very well. They scored on six of their last possessions to end the first half,” Smith said. “A lot of times you look at the game and every possession matters, but especially on the road, when you get down 12, it’s a big hole to get out of and and we had our chances, but we didn’t start the game well. We didn’t finish the half well.”

In the second half, the Cowboys broke open the game with an early 13-3 run to push their lead to a game-high 15 points at 56-41 with 12:32 to play.

From there, Utah never got within seven points, and that didn’t happen until the final minute and a half of the contest.

Defensively, the Utes (12-9, 4-6 Big 12) never got on track. Oklahoma State (11-10, 3-7 Big 12) shot 48.9% for the game, including 54.5% in the second half, and had an answer every time Utah would make a play offensively.

The Utes also ended up committing 28 fouls, which led to the Cowboys shooting 36 free throws. Oklahoma State converted 27 of those attempts from the free-throw line.

“We’ve got to get more stops,” Smith said. “Every game we’ve won in league play, we’ve held the opponent under a point per possession and tonight, they’re at 1.2 points per possession.”

This was a stark contrast from what transpired three weeks ago, when Utah steamrolled the Cowboys 83-62 in their matchup in Salt Lake City.

In that game, Utah center Lawson Lovering was a key factor in setting the tone on both ends for the Utes — he had six assists in that matchup and helped spark the Utes’ post efforts.

But in Saturday’s rematch, he was a nonfactor, taken out of the action by foul trouble. Lovering was held scoreless and had just two rebounds, one assist and two turnovers in 14 minutes before fouling out with seven minutes to play.

He picked up a third foul before halftime.

“The foul trouble was an issue for us. You know, we’re generally a way better team with Lawson on the floor, and, you know, I trust him,” Smith said.

The coach, though, pointed out that in that moment when Lovering picked up his third foul, the senior needed to show better discipline.

“When you’re a fourth-year senior, you’ve gotta understand what you mean to the team, and you’ve got to be disciplined,” he said. “He’s got good hands, and whether he hit it or not clean doesn’t matter. You can’t take that chance, and it’s just too important for us.”

While things were a grind for Utah throughout the afternoon matchup, the homestanding Cowboys found a much better rhythm. Bryce Thompson led the Oklahoma State attack, scoring 20 points on 6 of 10 shooting while making all four of his 3-point attempts.

He also had seven rebounds and two assists.

All four of Thompson’s 3s came at critical moments, too — the first two came on back-to-back possessions in the opening minutes that helped Oklahoma State push its lead to 9-1, then 12-3.

His third 3-pointer came a few minutes later and pushed the Cowboys’ lead into double-digits at 19-7.

“It’s just a mindset like, you’ve got to fight, and you got to have discipline and have vigor to get through those screens and they made us pay. Credit to them. They hit a couple 3s early. Thompson got going,” Smith said.

Then, late in the game, Thompson sank his fourth 3 late in the shot clock to move the Cowboys’ advantage back up to 13 with 2:42 to play.

While Utah was playing better at that point in the game, that final 3 made it feel like the last gasp of any comeback had been extinguished.

Marchelus Avery also scored 17 points and had two rebounds to go with a steal for Oklahoma State, while Arturo Dean (nine points, seven assists, three assists) and Abou Ousmane (eight points, eight rebounds) added key contributions as well.

What helped sink Utah in the first half was turnovers. The Utes had seven in the first half, and those led to 11 Oklahoma State points. Utah, meanwhile, got just three points off three Cowboys turnovers in the opening 20 minutes.

By game’s end, the Utes actually had a 15-14 edge in points off turnovers — Utah had 11 total turnovers to 10 for Oklahoma State — but the damage was done in the first half.

The Cowboys also overcame being slightly outshot by Utah in the first half by making 14 of 16 free throws in the opening 20 minutes, while the Utes were 7 of 9.

It set the tone for a game heavily influenced by the free-throw line.

Ezra Ausar ended up scoring a team-high 18 points for Utah, with 16 of those points coming in the second half. He also had three rebounds, a block and a steal against two turnovers.

Gabe Madsen had a bit better shooting day than he’s had in recent games, making 5 of 15 from the floor and hitting four 3-pointers on his way to 15 points.

Mike Sharavjamts (11 points) and Keanu Dawes (10) also scored in double-figures.

What ultimately hurt the Utes, though, was its lack of defensive intensity, and a poor shooting second half didn’t help matters. While Utah made 40% of its shots overall, it only shot 35.5% after halftime.

It all lends itself to a tough few days before Utah has its chance again to win in the uber-tough Big 12. The next opportunity at least comes at home, with the league’s worst team, Colorado, coming to Salt Lake City next Wednesday.

Still, Saturday’s effort was lacking in a game the Utes seemingly had a chance to push their way into the upper half of the Big 12 standings.

“At the end of the day, we’ve got to find a way to win this game. It’s disappointing, and we’ve got to grow from it,” Smith said.