Phillips Reaches Milestone In UCO Rout

1/25/2012 10:04:00 PM

Tyler Phillips

Box Score

FORT SMITH, Ark. (Jan. 25) – Brent Friday scored 10 points during a devastating 27-2 run that put Central Oklahoma in control and Tyler Phillips reached a scoring milestone to lead Central Oklahoma to an 80-59 thumping of Arkansas-Fort Smith here Wednesday night.

The Bronchos trailed 24-22 with 6:26 left in the half before going on a 19-2 tear to take a 41-26 lead at intermission and UCO opened the second half with eight unanswered points to stretch that to 49-26.

The Lions got no closer than 20 the rest of the way as the Bronchos coasted in to even their record at 10-10. UCO, which has played nine of its last 10 games on the road, returns home Saturday to host Northeastern State at 4 p.m.

Phillips led the way with 18 points in becoming the 39^th player in school history to reach the 1,000-point mark for his career. He entered the game with 991 points and now has 1,009 after going 5-of-9 from 3-point range, reaching the magic number on a trey with nine seconds left in the first half.

The Bronchos also got 17 points from Friday and 13 from Ronald Norfleet, while Shane Carroll and Spencer Smith added nine apiece. UCO shot a sizzling 60.5 percent (26-of-43) for the game, including a season-high 54.2 percent (13-of-24) from beyond the arc.

Central jumped out to a 12-7 lead seven minutes into the game, but the Lions came back with a 10-0 scoring spurt to go in front 17-12 at the midway point. Smith and Marcus Nelson had 3-pointers in a 9-2 run that put the Bronchos back on top 21-18 at the 7:03 mark, with UAFS surging ahead 24-22 at 6:26.

It was all UCO after that.

A Norfleet layup and Phillips trey put the Bronchos on top to stay at 27-24 and UCO pulled away from there, scoring seven points in the final nine seconds of the half to take its 15-point halftime edge.

Phillips started that late flurry with the 3-pointer that put him over the 1,000-point barrier at 0:09 and then hit one of two free throws at 0:02, with Friday draining a trey at the buzzer after the Bronchos rebounded Phillips' miss to make it 41-26.

UCO ended any doubt in the opening two minutes of the second half, getting back-to-back 3-pointers from Phillips and Smith followed by Friday's breakaway dunk to open up a 49-26 cushion.

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