SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (March 26) ? Overtime and the Elite Eight don't agree with Central Oklahoma.
Making the school's second appearance in the NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Championship quarterfinals, the Bronchos succumbed to a pair of Augusta State comebacks in dropping a heartbreaking 106-104 double-overtime decision Wednesday afternoon at the MassMutual Center.
UCO, which lost a 127-124 overtime thriller to Bridgeport in 1992 in its only other Elite Eight appearance, couldn't hold on to a 14-point lead in regulation and a six-point advantage in the first overtime.
This one ended with senior star Sam Belt on the floor, who tripped ? or was knocked down ? while trying to get upcourt after rebounding a missed ASU free throw with 4.5 seconds left and the Bronchos down by the final two-point margin.
“I probably should have passed the ball,” said Belt, the All-American who ended his career as UCO's second-leading all-time scorer. “Normally I don't trip over my own feet when I'm dribbling, but there was no call and there's nothing you can do about that.”
Augusta jumped on top 103-97 early in the second OT, but John Neal hit a 3-pointer and Brian Walker made a driving layup in traffic to get the Bronchos within 103-102 at the 1:54 mark. UCO missed shots on its next two possessions as ASU went up 106-102, with Belt's follow shot making it 106-104 with 4.5 seconds left.
The Bronchos fouled Steve Smith as the Jaguars tried to inbound the ball and he missed both free throws, with Belt rebounding the second. He turned to hurry upcourt, but went down in a heap after two steps and ASU picked up the loose ball to end the suspense.
No. 10-ranked Augusta State improved to 26-6 and moved into Thursday's semifinals against Alaska-Anchorage. The No.21-rated Bronchos wrapped up their season with a school-record 28 wins, finishing 28-6 as a nine-game winning streak ended.
Senior Brian Walker sparked UCO, scoring a career-high 23 points while hitting 13-of-14 free throws and adding three assists. Belt had 22 points and 11 rebounds, with Eric Cazenave (14), John Neal (13) and Lance Harper (13) also scoring in double figures.
The Bronchos made 15-of-43 3-pointers (34.9 percent), hit 29-of-33 free throws (87.9 percent) and outrebounded the Jaguars 52-40, but couldn't contain ASU giant Garrett Siler. The 6-foot-11, 305-pound Siler made 11-of-16 shots and 9-of-12 free throws in scoring 31 points.
“The game started out physical and we weren't able to do some of the things we wanted to do with their big fella,” UCO coach Terry Evans said. “He was able to get in the low post and we couldn't push him out. He dominated us inside and opened things up for them outside.
“It was a tough game between two really good basketball teams. We missed a lot of wide-open shots, but we made enough to win the game. My compliant is we didn't do enough defensively.”
UCO appeared in control after taking a 66-52 lead with 9:54 left in regulation, but the Jaguars went on an 11-1 run to pull within 67-63 at the 7:24 mark. The Bronchos regained a double-digit lead at 77-67 with 4:50 remaining on a Michael Sosanya layup and were ahead 83-76 at 1:34 after two Belt free throws.
Back-to-back 3-pointers by Demetrius Howard ? the second one following a UCO turnover ? made it an 83-82 game with 1:05 left and the Bronchos missed four shots on their next offensive possession.
ASU's Tyrekus Bowman was fouled with 10.8 seconds left and made one of two foul shots to tie it. Cazenave's 3-point try with 3.1 seconds to play was blocked out bounds and Harper's 12-footer at the buzzer was off the mark.
“I thought we took control of the game and then they (Augusta) forced some turnovers and we made some poor decisions to let them back in it,” Evans said. “I give Augusta a lot of credit because they made a lot of big shots at the end of regulation.”
Cazenave drilled consecutive treys from deep in the corner and Walker made two free throws to stake UCO to a 91-85 lead two minutes into the first extra session and it was a 93-88 cushion at 1:12 after two Walker charity tosses.
The Jaguars rallied again, scoring five straight points to tie it at 93-all before Neal broke that deadlock with two free shots at 0:38. Bowman made one free throw at 0:25 and Siler one at 0:22 to tie it again, but UCO couldn't get off a potential game-winning shot on the final possession of the period.
UCO started slow and trailed 19-14 midway through the first half before Walker keyed a 10-2 run that put the Bronchos in front.
The senior guard drilled a 3-pointer from the top of the key at the 9:50 mark to start the spurt and ended it with two free throws at 7:24 to give UCO a 24-21 lead. Two Terry Tucker free throws and a Keith Marks trey upped the advantage to 29-23 with 6:28 left and it was 36-28 after another Walker 3-pointer at 4:31.
Augusta came back with a pair of free throws to pull within 36-30, then Cazenave nailed a trey from the corner -- UCO's seventh of the half ? to make it 39-30. The lead peaked at 11 (41-30) on a Harper running hook over Siler with 2:05 left, but the Jaguars came back with eight unanswered points to pull within 41-38 at 0:16.
The Bronchos ended the half with a bang, though, as Harper stuffed home a shot at the buzzer on a nifty feed from Walker to make it 43-38 at the break.
Neal hit a 3-pointer to open the second half and UCO went on to stretch its lead to 14 on three occasions, the final time at 66-52 with 9:54 remaining on two Walker free throws.
It was the final game for three seniors -- Belt, Neal and Walker.
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