UCO downs Southern Nazarene in men's basketball

EDMOND (Nov. 16) – Dauntae Williams and Shane Carroll combined for 32 second-half points as Central Oklahoma built a big lead and then staved off a late comeback try by Southern Nazarene in claiming an 86-78 victory Tuesday night at Hamilton Field House.

The first meeting in 23 years between the near-by rivals featured 21 lead changes and nine ties before the unbeaten (3-0) and No. 18-ranked Bronchos took charge midway through the second half, using a 16-4 run to turn a 48-44 deficit into a 60-52 lead.

UCO led by 15 with less than six minutes remaining, but the Crimson Storm – rated No. 2 in NAIA -- clawed back to within four in the final two minutes before the Bronchos finally put the game away at the foul line.

“SNU has a really good team and it was quite a battle,” UCO coach Terry Evans said.  “It was a nice win for us and we just need to keep working hard to get better.”

Williams scored 19 of his game-high 24 points in the final 20 minutes and hit 12-of-16 free throws in the game, going 11-of-15 in the second half.  Carroll had 13 second-half points in finishing with 18 while hitting all eight of his foul shots.

The Bronchos also got 12 points and six rebounds from June Carter, while Brent Friday added nine points and two blocks and Tony Ross eight points and five boards.

UCO had 10 steals in forcing 22 turnovers, though the Crimson Storm shot 56.0 percent (28-of-50) from the field.  Horace McGloster paced SNU with 22 points and 10 rebounds.

There were 17 lead changes in a back-and-forth first half that ended with the Bronchos on top 37-36, but SNU went back in front early in the second half and built a series of four-point leads.

The last of those came at 48-44 with 16:56 remaining and that’s when UCO started its game-changing surge.  Carroll scored six points, Victor Driver drained a 3-pointer from the wing that put the Bronchos in front to stay and Ross had back-to-back buckets in the 16-4 run that made it 60-52 with 12:01 left to play.

UCO appeared in control after pushing its lead to 15 at 76-61 on another Ross jumper with 5:23 remaining, but the Crimson Storm hit consecutive 3-pointers to get back in the game and eventually cut the lead to 77-73 with 1:26 left.

The Bronchos then secured the win at the charity stripe, hitting 9-of-10 free throws – five by Williams, four by Carroll -- the last 1:19 to keep SNU at bay.

UCO returns to action this weekend with two games in Weatherford at the Southwestern Oklahoma Athletic Association Classic, taking on Mid-America Christian on Friday and Arlington Baptist on Saturday.