Evans Reaches 200 In Upset Win

12/3/2011 4:42:00 PM

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EDMOND (Dec. 3) – Brent Friday and Johnny Stephene scored 16 points apiece to lead another balanced attack and Central Oklahoma upended No. 15-ranked Arkansas Tech 79-68 Saturday afternoon at Hamilton Field House to hand head coach Terry Evans his 200th career win.

All five starters scored in double figures for the Bronchos, who led 36-26 at halftime and were up by as many as 19 in the second half before staving off ATU's late comeback try and closing out their third straight win.

UCO improved to 7-3 while handing the Wonder Boys their first loss (4-1).

Evans reached the 200-win plateau in just his 10th year with the Bronchos, improving to 200-82.

“Winning 200 games is a tribute to all the great players we've had come through here over the last 10 years,” said Evans, who has directed UCO to seven NCAA Division II national tournament berths. “They put in a lot of hard work and they deserve all the credit.

“We didn't have a couple of guys today and they caused us some problems with their pressure but we were able to overcome that. We played well, we shot the ball well and we beat a really good team.”

The Bronchos had 22 turnovers, but countered that with 56.8-percent (25-of-44) shooting from the field, including a sizzling 68.8 percent (11-of-16) in the second half. UCO also made 24-of-33 free throws (72.7 percent).

Defense was also a big key as the Bronchos limited ATU to 37.0-percent shooting (27-of-73). Johnie Davis, who entered the game averaging 25.0 points, was held to 11 on 4-of-15 shooting while being primarily guarded by Friday.

Friday was 5-of-6 from the field and 6-of-9 from the line in his 16-point outing, while Stephene made all five field goals – including a couple of 3-pointers – and 4-of-5 foul shots.

Josh Davis ended up with 11 points and a team-high nine rebounds, Shane Carroll added 11 points and Tyler Phillips finished with 10 points, six rebounds and five assists. Ronald Norfleet was big off the bench with six points, five blocked shots and four boards.

The game went back-and-forth early and UCO was up just 27-26 with 4:09 left in the opening half before scoring the final nine points to open up a double-digit lead.

Cortrez Colbert started that scoring spurt with a long 3-pointer from the wing, then Davis made a short jumper and two free throws before Friday ended it with a vicious fast-break slam dunk off a steal and long pass from Phillips to make it 36-26.

The Wonder Boys scored the first four points of the second half to pull within 36-30, but UCO answered with a 10-2 run. The Bronchos scored six points in 37 seconds to end that, getting a jumper from Colbert, a steal and layup from Javvero Baker and a Norfleet dunk to go on top 46-32 with 13:39 left to play.

UCO's lead peaked at 19 (55-36) when Phillips buried a 3-pointer with 10:00 remaining and ATU tried to answer. The Wonder Boys went on a 14-4 run to make it 59-50 at the 5:11 mark and it was an eight-point game at 69-61 with 1:34 left, but the Bronchos made six straight free throws – two each by Carroll, Colbert and Stephene – to stay safely in front.

UCO returns to action Tuesday when it travels to Weatherford to take on Southwestern Oklahoma.

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