Box Score
DURANT, Okla. (Feb. 27) -- Chris Rhymes made three free throws in the final 16 seconds as Central Oklahoma staved off a last-ditch Southeastern Oklahoma rally to secure its third straight Lone Star Conference North Division championship with a 72-67 win here Saturday night.
The injury-plagued Bronchos had a 12-point lead at 67-55 with 4:27 remaining, but had to hold on down the stretch in the regular season finale to win their 18th game in 19 outings and improve to 22-5 on the year.
UCO finished 11-1 in the LSC North, claiming the outright title with Northeastern State's loss to Southwestern Oklahoma earlier Saturday. The Bronchos will meet South Division fourth-place finisher West Texas A&M at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday in the first round of the LSC Championship in Bartlesville.
“It was a tough game, but we found a way to get it done and we're really happy to win the division again,” UCO coach Terry Evans said. “We didn't shoot very well and struggled some at the end, so we're happy to get out of here with a win.”
The Bronchos appeared in control after taking a 67-55 lead with 4:27 remaining on an Eric Cazenave 3-pointer, but UCO missed its next four shots from the field and went 1-of-3 at line during a 9-1 SOSU run that made it 68-64 with 44 seconds left.
Neither team scored again until Rhymes made two foul shots at 0:16 to up the lead to 70-64, with the Savage Storm hitting a 3-pointer four seconds later to cut the deficit to 70-67.
Cazenave made one of two free throws at 0:10 to up the lead to 71-67, then Rhymes rebounded an SOSU miss and made a foul shot with two seconds remaining for the final score.
The Bronchos had their second-worst shooting game of the season, connecting on just 39.4 percent (26-of-66) from the field, including a mere 23.3 percent (7-of-30) from 3-point range.
Rhymes finished with 18 points while adding seven rebounds, a season-high five assists and two steals. Dauntae Williams also had 18 points in addition to eight boards, a career-best seven steals and four assists.
UCO also got 17 points, four assists and two steals from Cazenave and 14 points from Shane Carroll. #Keith Marks# (four points) and Carl Curry (one) were the only other players to score for the Bronchos, who without several injured front-liners.
There were eight ties and six lead chances in the first half that ended with SOSU on top 32-31. It was tied 48-all in the second half when the Bronchos went on a 12-2 run to take a 60-50 lead with 8:20 left and that became a 12-point lead before the Savage Storm rallied to make a game of it.
