Game Statistics
LAWTON, Okla. (Jan. 23) -- Chris Rhymes' layup at the buzzer rescued Central Oklahoma and lifted the Bronchos to a thrilling 71-69 overtime triumph over Lone Star Conference North Division rival Cameron here Saturday.
The Aggies had tied the game at 69-all on Kallan Glasgow's layup with 5.8 seconds remaining and UCO quickly brought the ball downcourt, with Rhymes taking Dauntae Williams' pass on the baseline and driving toward the goal.
He got the shot off just ahead of the final horn and the ball rolled around the rim before falling through as the clock expired to give the Bronchos their 15th straight win over Cameron.
UCO pushed its winning streak to 11 in a row in improving to 15-4 on the year and 4-0 in LSC North play. The Aggies fell to 10-7 and 0-3.
“Chris made a great play at the end of the game to save us,” head coach Terry Evans said. “We did a horrible job of rebounding and were lucky to get out of here with a win, but we'll take it and move on.”
CU, which leads the league in offensive rebounding and rebounding margin, battered the Bronchos on the boards. The Aggies outrebounded UCO 57-34, used 23 offensive rebounds for a huge 26-9 advantage in second-chance points and had three players finish with 10-plus caroms.
Somehow the Bronchos still prevailed, with Williams the sparkplug. The junior guard was 9-of-16 from the field with five 3-pointers in scoring a season-high 29 points while adding 10 rebounds, three assists, a steal and a blocked shot.
Rhymes finished with 12 points, six rebounds and five assists and Tyler Phillips had 10 as UCO's only other double-digit scorer.
The game was deadlocked 62-62 after regulation and CU went up 67-64 early in the extra period. Blake Livingston's follow shot and one Rhymes free throw tie it 67-all with 1:31 left to play and Eric Cazenave followed a turnover with a running bank shot to give the Bronchos a 69-67 lead with 59 seconds left.
Cazenave rebounded a Cameron miss on the other end at 0:30 and was fouled, but he missed both charity tosses to set the stage for the wild finish.
The game went back-and-forth in the early stages and the Aggies led 12-9 before a Williams trey from the top of the key sparked a 7-0 run that put UCO in front 16-12.
CU came back to tie it at 16-all, but Rhymes put the Bronchos ahead to stay seconds later with a long 3-pointer from the wing and it soon became a 31-21 lead when Phillips hit a pair of free throws at the 5:04 mark to cap a 7-0 spurt.
UCO's first-half lead peaked at 12 (40-28) on Williams' layup with 1:38 left before the Aggies scored the final points of the half to get within 10 (40-30) at intermission.
That 10-point margin grew to 13 (50-37) six minutes into the second half when Shane Carroll banked in a baseline drive, but CU came right back with eight straight points -- six coming off offensive rebounds -- to close within 50-45 with 11:15 remaining.
Williams ended UCO's drought with a 3-pointer from way downtown as the shot clock was winding down to make it 53-47 and the Aggies answered back with a bucket and two free throws to cut the deficit to 53-51 with 8:25 left.
A 7-0 run upped the lead back to nine (60-51) at the 6:22 mark as Carroll had a pair of free throws, Rhymes a follow shot and Williams another long-distance bomb and it was an eight-point lead at 62-54 following two Williams free throws at 2:53.
UCO didn't score again in regulation, missing two shots and committing two turnovers while the Aggies ended with an 8-0 spurt to force overtime and the Bronchos were fortunate to get to the extra session as CU missed three potential game-winning shots in the final five seconds.
