LAWRENCE, Kan.- If this game does not ultimately decide the Big 12 championship, it should have.

No. 8 Kansas shot 66% from the field, no. 4 Oklahoma State hit 59%, and both old rivals played almost flawlessly in key stretches yesterday before the Jayhawks finally emerged with an 81-79 victory.

“Certainly, for me, it was an honor to coach in this game,” Kansas’s Bill Self said. “This will go down as one of the great ones to ever be played in this building.”

Wayne Simien had a career-high 32 points and Aaron Miles hit a running layup with 37 seconds to go for the Jayhawks (21-4, 11-3 Big 12), who have a one-game lead over Oklahoma State (20-5, 10-4) and no. 22 Oklahoma with two games to play.

Simien had 12 rebounds and was 10-of-11 from the foul line, breaking the school record with 34 consecutive free throws as Kansas snapped its first three game losing streak in 11 years.

“I think you could make a case that for today at least, there was not a better player in America,” Self said.

John Lucas, one of four senior starters for Oklahoma State, hit his first nine shots but he missed a long 3-point attempt seconds before the final buzzer.

“What a great college basketball game,” Oklahoma State coach Eddie Sutton said. “When both teams play like that, it is a shame that one has to lose.”

Lucas’s first miss came with 1:31 to go and the game tied at 78.With 37 seconds left, Miles, the Big 12 assists leader, scored the go-ahead basket for an 80-78 lead.

Oklahoma State freshman Jameson Curry was fouled by Christian Moody and went to the line with 25 seconds left. He made the second free throw to make it a one-point game. Miles was fouled with 19 seconds to go and he hit the second for the 81-79 lead.

After dribbling between the circle for a few seconds, Lucas launched the 3-point attempt that hit the rim.

“When it left his hand it was like it was in slow motion,” Simien said. “I thought he was going to make it. He seemed like he couldn’t miss all day long.”

Fast-paced throughout, this was a game that was befitting of a major conference championship showdown. Lucas, last season’s Big 12 player of the year, had 22 points while Joey Graham added 19 and Curry 15.

Sutton, who has 775 career victories, will probably retire without ever leading the Cowboys to a victory in Kansas’s Allen Fieldhouse, where his Oklahoma State teams are 0-11 under him.

The Cowboys, gunning for their first consecutive conference titles since 1953-54, have home games left against Texas A &M and Texas. The Jayhawks are home on Wednesday against Kansas State and then end their season at Missouri. Oklahoma finishes at Texas and Texas Tech.