LSC North Champs Again

2/21/2011 11:17:53 PM

Jarrod McDaniel

Box Score

EDMOND (Feb. 21) – Early success from long range made up for a host of close-range misses and propelled No. 7-ranked Central Oklahoma to a fourth straight Lone Star Conference North Division championship Monday night at Hamilton Field House.

The Bronchos missed their first 10 shots inside 3-point range but more than made up for it by drilling five of their first seven attempts from outside the arc in racing to a 15-2 lead and NSU never really threatened the rest of the way as UCO coasted to a 71-56 triumph.

It was the 22nd consecutive home win -- and the 1,200th victory in the 85-year history of the program -- for the Bronchos, who improved to 23-3 on the season and 9-1 in clinching the LSC North title with two regular season games remaining.

UCO, which is 41-5 against North Division teams the last four years, plays its final regular season home game Wednesday against Southwestern Oklahoma.

“We got a lot of open looks from outside early and were able to knock those down,” head coach Terry Evans said. “It wasn't the prettiest win, but we'll take it and we're excited about winning the North again.”

The Bronchos ended up shooting 52.4 percent (11-of-21) from 3-point territory while making just 10-of-32 (31.3 percent) shots from inside the line.

Dauntae Williams paced UCO with three treys and 19 points, while Tucker Phillips was 4-of-5 from long range in adding 12 points. Tyler Phillips had a pair of 3-pointers in a 10-point outing, with Victor Driver and Shane Carroll adding nine points apiece.

NSU got a game-opening layup from Brent Grice to take a quick 2-0 lead, but then missed its next nine shots and the Bronchos used their early 3-point success to take control.

Williams put UCO ahead to stay with a long trey and Tucker Phillips hit back-to-back 3-pointers from the top of the key to make it 9-2 barely two minutes into the contest. Williams found the range again at the 15:36 mark and Tyler Phillips ended the early shooting display at 14:44 to give the Bronchos the big 15-2 lead.

UCO didn't score again until making its first two-point basket of the game on a Williams tip-off with 10:43 left that made it 17-5 and Tucker Phillips drained his third trey of the half at 9:14 to up the advantage to 20-5.

The Bronchos went on to a 33-22 halftime lead and NSU got no closer than eight in the final 20 minutes.

That came with 15:56 left to play when the RiverHawks pulled to within 39-31, but June Carter had back-to-back layups and Carroll a 3-pointer in a 7-0 run that pushed the lead by to 15 (46-31) and it was smooth sailing from there.

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