Box Score
EDMOND (Jan. 14) – A suffocating defensive effort turned the tide in the second half and Central Oklahoma pulled away in the final 10 minutes en route to an 80-61 trouncing of Texas A&M-Commerce Wednesday night at Hamilton Field House.
The No. 4-ranked Bronchos limited A&M-C to 21 second-half points on 9-of-34 shooting (26.5 percent) and turned a 40-39 halftime deficit into their 22nd consecutive home win in the Lone Star Conference North Division opener for both teams.
UCO, the preseason favorite to win its fourth LSC North title in five years, improved to 14-2 while dropping the Lions to 9-7.
“Our defense was the key in the second half,” UCO coach Terry Evans said. “We did a great job of getting them out of sync and not giving them any good looks at the basket. We made a lot of mistakes in the first half, but really came out and did a lot of good things the last 20 minutes of the game.”
David Thomas made 7-of-11 shots with a pair of 3-pointers and all four free throw tries in scoring a game-high 20 points while adding seven rebounds, two assists, two steals and two blocked shots to lead UCO.
The Bronchos also got a career-high 19 points from Michael Sosanya, who was also 7-of-11 from the field and perfect (5-of-5) from the line, while Eric Cazenave chipped in 12 points and five assists and Lance Harper 11 points and four assists.
A&M-C's one-point halftime lead became a seven-point one (46-39) two minutes into the second half, but the Bronchos soon took charge. Sosanya had back-to-back inside buckets to ignite a 15-2 run that DeAngelo Garrett capped with an 18-foot jumper to give UCO a 54-48 lead at the 10:53 mark.
The Lions ended a four-minute scoring drought with a layup at 10:30 that made it 54-50 and then the Bronchos really took over. Adam Terneus drilled a 3-pointer from the top of the key and followed with two free throws to kick-start a game-clinching 11-0 spurt that put UCO in front 66-50 with 6:04 left to play.
A&M-C got no closer than 14 the rest of the way and the Bronchos had five layups or dunks in the final four minutes to coast in with their fourth straight win.
The first half went back-and-forth throughout, with 10 lead changes and 14 ties as neither team led by more than six points.
UCO goes to Weatherford Saturday to take on Southwestern Oklahoma at 2 p.m. in another LSC North Division contest.
