Bronchos Rally Past Northwest Missouri

1/4/2014 6:04:00 PM

Aaron Anderson

Box Score

MARYVILLE, Mo. (Jan. 4) – Josh Gibbs scored five of his career-high 30 points in a 34-second span midway through the second half to give Central Oklahoma the lead for good and the Bronchos went on to edge Northwest Missouri 81-77 here Saturday.

UCO led the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association contest by seven (79-72) with 3:16 left, but scored only one Seth Heckart free throw in the next three minutes as the Bearcats pulled within 80-77.

NWMSU couldn't force a turnover after making a 3-pointer with 24 seconds left to get within that three-point margin and Cal Andrews sealed the big road win by making one of two foul shots with 14 seconds remaining.

"That was a great win for us," UCO head coach Terry Evans said. "It's always tough on the road, but we shot the ball extremely well from outside and beat a really good team."

Gibbs once again led the way as the senior star finished 8-of-17 from the field with five 3-pointers and 9-of-10 from the line in his career-best 30-point outing. He also had game highs for rebounds (14) and assists (six) in recording his NCAA Division II-leading 12^th double-double of the season.

Aaron Anderson had another stellar all-around game with 18 points, eight rebounds and five assists as he made 7-of-11 shots with a pair of 3-pointers. Andrews finished with four treys and 15 points.

UCO, now 9-3 on the season and 3-2 in the league, shot a sizzling 59.1 percent (13-of-22) from beyond the arc. The Bearcats fell to 8-5 and 3-1.

The Bronchos started hot, nailing four 3-pointers early in jumping out to a 21-7 lead six minutes into the contest. UCO was still up by seven (37-30) with 4:20 left in the half before NWMSU went on a 15-3 run to seize a 45-40 halftime advantage.

The deficit was eight at 52-44 early in the second half before Anderson scored eight straight points to pull the Bronchos even at 52-all and it was tied again at 59-59 when Gibbs put UCO ahead to stay with his five-point outburst.

He nailed a 3-pointer at the 10:44 mark to break the deadlock and followed a NWMSU miss with two free throws at 10:10 to up UCO's lead to 64-59. Back-to-back treys by Heckart and Andrews pushed the lead to 10 (72-62) with 7:22 left and the Bronchos hung on at the end.

UCO returns to Edmond Wednesday to host Missouri Southern and open a four-game league homestand.

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