Box Score
BARTLESVILLE, Okla. (March 7) -- This time, it was Central Oklahoma that succumbed to a late comeback. Barely.
Southwestern Oklahoma handed the No. 10-ranked Bronchos a 69-67 setback here Saturday afternoon in the semifinals of the Lone Star Conference Men's Basketball Championship, using a late 16-3 run to seemingly take control before the Bronchos pulled even with a frantic final-minute rally.
Eric Cazenave's 3-pointer from the corner tied the game at 67-all with 18.2 seconds left, but the Bulldogs pulled out the thrilling win on Clarke Hale's eight-foot floater with 2.0 seconds remaining.
Click here for the photo gallery of the game.
UCO, which overcame a nine-point overtime deficit in getting past Tarleton State 77-76 in Wednesday's first round, fell to 24-5 on the year as its bid for a second straight league tournament title ended. The Bulldogs improved to 19-10 and moved into Sunday afternoon's finals against Midwestern State.
The Bronchos are a virtual lock to make the 64-team NCAA Division II national tournament as an at-large entry when that field is announced Sunday night. UCO will be in the eight-team South Central Regional that will probably be hosted by either Central Missouri or Southwest Baptist.
"Defensively I thought we played well enough to win, but we never got in the groove offensively and then when we started to we missed two straight one-and-ones and that really hurt us," UCO coach Terry Evans said. "It was a tough game and it's a disappointing loss.
"We've got one of the best turnover ratios in the nation, but today we had 19 turnovers. That and shooting ourselves in the foot at the free throw line really hurt us."
The Bronchos made just 9-of-18 free throws, while SWOSU was 20-of-24 from the foul stripe.
UCO had a 56-50 lead after a Shane Carroll layup with 7:23 remaining, but the Bronchos missed three shots and went 0-of-4 from the line in a five-minute drought as SWOSU scored 11 unanswered points to go in front 61-56 at the 2:26 mark.
David Thomas ended the dry spell with a three-point play at 2:18 to make it 61-59, with the Bulldogs coming back with a 5-0 run for a 66-59 lead at 1:03.
Eric Cazenave, the hero in the comeback against Tarleton two days earlier, scored on a tip-in and a layup after a SWOSU turnover to get UCO within 66-63 with 44.5 seconds left and then Kenneth White made one of two free throws for a 67-63 SWOSU lead.
Lance Harper was fouled with 30.2 seconds remaining and made one of two foul shots to make it 67-64 and the Bronchos kept the ball when SWOSU fumbled the rebound out of bounds. Cazenave missed a short jumper with 20 seconds left, but Thomas pulled down the rebound and got the ball to Adam Terneus, who found Cazenave open in the corner.
The junior sharpshooter drilled the long 3-pointer to tie the game at 67-all with 18.4 seconds left, but all the late heroics went for naught when Clarke drove the baseline and made his game-winner with 2.0 ticks on the clock.
Thomas was able to get off a desperation halfcourt heave at the buzzer, but it wasn't close.
Harper and Cazenave scored 16 points apiece to lead the Bronchos, with both hitting 7-of-13 shots. Thomas added 10 points, seven rebounds and three assists, while Michael Sosanya had eight points, six boards and a career-high four blocked shots.
UCO trailed by as many as 11 in the first half before getting within 33-31 at halftime and the Bronchos didn't take the first lead until 12:07 remained in the game when Cazenave made an 18-footer to make it 47-46. The lead peaked at 56-50 to set up the wild finish.
