Box Score
EDMOND (Feb. 4) -- A frantic rally came up short for Central Oklahoma Wednesday night at Hamilton Field House as the No. 3-ranked Bronchos dropped a shocking 83-80 Lone Star Conference North Division decision to Northeastern State.
UCO overcame a 17-point second-half deficit to tie the contest at 80-all in the final minute, but the Bronchos missed their last two shots while the RiverHawks made 3-of-4 free throws to pull off the upset.
The loss ended a 24-game home winning streak that dated back to Jan. 31, 2007 and was also UCO's first setback in LSC North play. The Bronchos fell to 18-3 overall and 5-1 in the North Division, with NSU improving to 8-13 and 3-3.
UCO will get a quick shot at redemption, with the two teams set to meet again Saturday afternoon in Tahlequah.
"We fought hard, but we just got too far down and couldn't quite make it all the way back," UCO coach Terry Evans said. "We didn't do a very good job defensively and Northeastern hit a lot of big shots. It's a disappointing loss, but we just have to put it behind us and get ready for Saturday."
The RiverHawks made their first seven 3-pointers of the game, ending up hitting 10-of-17 (58.8 percent) from beyond the arc and shot 60.0 percent (24-of-40) overall while also holding a 35-26 rebounding advantage.
UCO had just eight turnovers in the contest and took 24 more shots (64-40) than the RiverHawks, but fell behind 7-0 two mintues into the contest and battled from behind the entire game.
Lance Harper led the Bronchos, hitting 11-of-17 shots and 7-of-10 free throws in scoring a career-high 29 points. Michael Sosanya was the only other player in double figures with 13 as he hit 7-of-8 free throws, while Adam Terneus and Eric Cazenave had eight points apiece.
NSU shot 66.7 percent (14-of-21) in taking a 44-35 halftime lead and the RiverHawks stretched the margin to 17 on four occasions, the last time at 67-50 with 9:12 left to play.
It was still a big 12-point deficit (73-61) with 4:48 remaining, but UCO forced a couple of turnovers and got back-to-back layups from Harper in pulling within 75-70 at the 3:37 mark. A Harper three-point play cut the lead to 79-76 at 1:40 and a David Thomas steal led to two Harper free throws at 1:23 that made it 79-78.
NSU's Jason Jones -- who finished with 20 points and 16 rebounds -- made one foul shot at 1:04 to make it 80-78, but Cazenave tied it with 49 seconds to play on a floating 12-footer in the lane. The RiverHawks broke the tie at 0:23 when Tarod Sanders made one of two free throws and UCO called two timeouts in setting up a last-second shot.
Harper got the call, but his short baseline jumper was just off the mark and Jones pulled down the rebound with 1.2 seconds left. He was immediately followed and made both free throws to make it 83-80 and the upset was complete when Cazenave's 30-foot try for the tie at the buzzer fell short.
