Box Score
EDMOND (Feb. 11) – An in-game promotion that has tee-shirts shot into the crowd following every Central Oklahoma 3-pointer made plenty of fans happy Wednesday night at Hamilton Field House.
The No. 10-ranked Bronchos set Lone Star Conference records for 3-pointers made (28) and attempted (57) during a 125-64 annihilation of East Central, with UCO scoring early and often from beyond the arc against the zone-playing Tigers.
Ten UCO players had at least one 3-pointer – tying an NCAA Division II record – and the Bronchos made an amazing 17-of-25 long-range bombs (68.0 percent) in the first half alone to nearly equal the previous LSC record of 19 treys.
Eric Cazenave led the way with eight 3-pointers, including seven in the first half. David Thomas had five and Shane Carroll two of his four in the initial 41 seconds of the game, with Victor Driver, Chance Hardaker, Tucker Phillips and Brent Friday all making two apiece.
Big men Michael Sosanya and DeAngelo Garrett also got in the act, with both making their first 3-pointers of the season.
Lost in outside sharpshooting exhibition – and perhaps an even more impressive statistic – was that the Bronchos committed just two turnovers in winning for the 10th time in 11 games. UCO improved to 20-3 overall and 7-1 in the LSC North Division to maintain its lead over Southwestern Oklahoma.
“We haven't really showed how good a shooting team we are, but we did tonight,” said head coach Terry Evans, whose team reached the 20-win plateau for the third straight season. “We did a great job of moving the ball around, got a lot of open looks and knocked our shots down.”
It was UCO's highest-scoring game since a 150-point outpoint against Baptist Christian early in the 2000-01 season, with the 61-point margin of victory the 10th highest in school history.
Cazenave finished 8-of-13 from long range in scoring a game-high 24 points as one of six UCO players in double figures. Carroll scored 14 of his career-high 19 in the first seven minutes of the contest, while Thomas finished with 14 points, Lance Harper 12 and Driver and Friday 10 apiece.
Keith Marks paced UCO's 51-40 rebounding advantage with a career-high 11 boards and Harper had 10 in recording his seventh double-double of the season.
This one was over early, with Carroll giving a sign of things to come when he drained a 3-pointer from the wing just 12 seconds into the contest. He had three treys and Thomas two by the 15:41 mark, at which point the Bronchos already led 21-2.
The lead reached 20 at 33-13 on a Cazenave 3-pointer with 9:36 left in the half and he had five more the rest of the way as the lead ballooned to 42 (68-26) by intermission.
It was more of the same to start the second half, with Driver hitting twice from long range early before Thomas gave UCO the record-breaking 20th trey on a no-doubter from the wing with 16:49 still left to play that made it 80-32.
The Bronchos cruised in from there, winning for the 25th time in their last 26 outings at home.
UCO returns to LSC North action Saturday, going to Durant to take on Southeastern Oklahoma at 8 p.m.
