Carroll Reaches Century Mark as UCO Rolls

2/11/2012 7:22:00 PM

Shane Carroll

Box Score

TAHLEQUAH, Okla. (Feb. 11) – Four different players scored in a late 8-0 run that put the game away and Shane Carroll reached the century club in career scoring as Central Oklahoma returned from a long break to run past Northeastern State 72-54 here Saturday.

The Bronchos, playing their first game since a 59-52 home victory over NSU two weeks ago, led the entire second half but didn't secure their third win of the season over the RiverHawks until scoring eight unanswered points to open up a 60-48 lead with 4:58 left to play.

UCO cruised in from there and Carroll became the second Broncho player of the season to reach the 1,000-point mark in career scoring when the long-range sharpshooter drilled a 3-pointer with 1:00 remaining.

Carroll ended up with 15 points, giving the senior 1,002 for his career in becoming the 40th player in school history to reach that milestone. Brent Friday led the Bronchos with 16 points, while Spencer Smith also had 15 and Tyler Phillips – who reached the 1,000-point plateau on Jan. 25 – added 13.

UCO improved to 12-10 with its third straight win.

“It's been a long time since we played a game and we got off to a slow start, but we played really well the last 25 or 30 minutes of the game,” head coach Terry Evans said. “We played good defense and hit some shots, especially in the second half.”

The Bronchos committed just seven turnovers and shot 50.0 percent (13-of-26) from the field in the second half to finish at 45.8 percent (22-of-48) for the game. UCO also canned 13-of-15 second-half free throws (86.7 percent) after making just 5-of-9 (55.6 percent) in the first 20 minutes.

Smith and Phillips opened the game with consecutive 3-pointers to stake the Bronchos to an early 6-0 lead, but NSU went back in front 8-7 and upped its lead to six (19-13) with 9:34 left.

UCO answered with a 9-0 scoring spurt, getting a three-point play from Friday and back-to-back treys from Marcus Nelson and Smith to move in front 22-19 at the 7:07 mark and it was close the rest of the half.

Friday finally put the Bronchos in front to stay when he converted another three-point play with just one second left to give UCO a 29-26 lead at the break.

The lead grew to nine at 45-36 on Cortrez Colbert's tip-in at the 12:07 mark, but the RiverHawks rallied to within four at 52-48 before UCO finally put the game away.

Friday started the decisive 8-0 run with a free throw, Phillips followed with a 3-pointer after rebounding Friday's second charity shot miss, Javvero Baker got loose for a fast-break dunk and Carroll ended the spurt with a layup to give the Bronchos a 60-48 lead with 4:58 left.

UCO pulled away from there to put away its third win of the season over the RiverHawks with one game yet to play.

The Bronchos go to Central Missouri next Tuesday before hosting Lindenwood on Thursday.

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