File photo WVU coach Ross Hodge is shown during a recent game.

MORGANTOWN — He should have been jumping up and down with joy. After all, Parsa Fallah had just slam dunked the final two points down that had given Oklahoma State a 91-84 overtime victory over West Virginia to end the Cowboys five-game losing streak.

But instead of celebratory shouts there were screams of horror and pain as Fallah writhed on the floor of the Eddie Sutton Court under the basket, that needless slam dunk that was meant as an exclamation point on the victory had turned to horror as he landed awkwardly, grabbing at the left knee he had grotesquely twisted in what looked to be almost certainly a nasty ACL injury.

Instead of the joyous noise of such a victory, an eerie silence came over Gallagher-Iba Arena, fans peeking out from behind two hands covering their faces or trying to see through tears that were rolling down their cheeks.

It was the latest in a series of devastating injuries to the top players in the Big 12 that are threatening to considerably weaken their chances of making a run in the NCAA Tournament and put much of the All-Conference team on crutches to receive their honors.

Fallah had been a dominant force all season for Oklahoma State and was especially so in this crushing victory administered to the Mountaineers.

This 6-foot-10, 250-pound Iranian came into the game second in scoring on the team while leading in rebounding and put it all to use against WVU as he scored 18 points on 7-of-12 shooting, even hitting two of three 3’s, both crucial, while grabbing off 8 rebounds with 4 assists, 2 blocked shots and a steal.

The moment seems to affect everyone in the arena, even WVU’s coach and players.

“We recruited him a bit, and I got to know him and his then fiance, and what a great kid, what an incredible kid and he’s had an incredible year,” WVU Coach Ross Hodge said. “He really has had an All-Big 12 type performance. So certainly, we are thinking about him and praying for him. You hate to see that.”

The WVU players, all of whom know that their careers are always one misstep away from a similar fate, showed in their facial expressions what they were feeling.

“It was disheartening,” Hodge went on. “I saw the looks in our guy’s faces. I saw the look of our seniors, knowing how fragile it is. Add in the character of a guy like Parsa and the person he is and it breaks your heart.”

No one, of course, knows a player as his teammates do.

“It’s tough, nobody deserves it, especially him,” OSU center Andrija Vukovic said in the post-game press conference. “He’s such a good leader in this team, on the court and off the court, such a good person.”

His quality was shown as he came into the press conference himself on crutches, offering this up.

“I want to talk about a few things,” Fallah said. “First of all, I’m really grateful for this year that I had here at Oklahoma State. And the fans, I hope they know how much I really care about them, and it was a great experience, so I wanted to say thank you to every one of you all and all the fans out there.”

This is just the latest in a run of recent injuries that have depleted the Big 12 talent pool from the top. Reigning Player of the Year JT Toppin of Texas Tech, who scored 22 points with nine rebounds when the Red Raiders beat WVU earlier this season, suffered a season-ending ACL injury recently that in a way was reminiscent of the one suffered years ago by the Mountaineers’ Da’Sean Butler to end his WVU career in the NCAA Final Four.

Toppin was on his way to another Player of the Year Award averaging 21.8 points, 10.8 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per game — the only player nationally averaging more than a double-double. He is on both the Naismith and the Wooden National Player of the Year late-season watch lists.

And meaningful to WVU, whose next game is Saturday at home against No. 19 BYU, is the fact that the Cougars’ star player Richie Saunders is also out with a torn ACL he suffered Valentine’s Day in the first minute of play against Colorado.

Saunders was the Big 12’s Most Improved Player and an All-Conference first-team pick last season and was averaging 18 points a game while hitting on 37.8% of his 3’s, averaging 5.8 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.7 steals per game.

But before any Mountaineer fan gets overjoyed, it must be noted that BYU’s star freshman AJ Dybantsa, saw his role expanded, and in the next two games, he averaged 32 points, 8.5 rebounds while playing all but 45 seconds in the two games.

One of those games was against then No. 4 Arizona in which he scored 35 points. Then, in a win over then No. 6 Iowa State, he put on a show with 29 points, 10 rebounds and 9 assists.