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RiverHawks Topple UCO

Christian Huffman
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EDMOND (Jan. 16) – Northeastern State outscored Central Oklahoma 31-17 from the free throw line and made eight straight foul shots down the stretch to topple the Bronchos 80-71 Wednesday night at Hamilton Field House.
 
The RiverHawks were deadly from the charity stripe all night, finishing 31-of-36 (86.1 percent) and making their final 16 of the game.  The last eight of those came in the final 29 seconds after UCO had trimmed a 10-point deficit to three (72-69) and enabled NSU to pull away with a game-ending 8-2 run.
 
The loss ended a three-game Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association winning streak by the Bronchos, who dropped to 6-9 overall and 4-3 in the league.  The RiverHawks improved to 11-4 and 4-3.
 
Josh Gibbs once again led UCO, finishing with 18 points.  Spencer Smith added 12 and Christian Huffman had 11 off the bench.
 
The Bronchos shot 49.0 percent (25-of-51) from the field, but were just 4-of-18 (22.2 percent) from 3-point range.  UCO ended up 17-of-23 (73.9 percent) from the free throw line.
 
NSU led most of the game and was up by as many as eight (20-12) in the first half.  It was a 29-22 deficit with 4:16 left when the Bronchos went on a 11-2 run to grab a 33-31 halftime lead.
 
Layups by Josh Davis and Gibbs started that spurt, with Smith adding a conventional three-point play, Nic Combs a pair of free throws and Gibbs a half-ending layup that gave UCO the two-point edge at intermission.
 
The Bronchos' last lead came at 40-39 on a Smith 3-pointer three minutes into the second half, with NSU moving ahead to stay 13 seconds later.  The RiverHawks went to grab a pair of double digit leads, the last time at 63-53 with 6:53 remaining.
 
UCO cut it to three (70-67) on Huffman's driving layup at the 3:07 mark, with his steal and coast-to-coast layup keeping it a three-point game at 72-69 with 1:15 left.
 
But the Bronchos scored only on a Jamell Cormier layup the rest of the way as NSU went to the foul line to salt the game away.
 
Bryton Hobbs led that charge for the RiverHawks, hitting all 13 of his free throws.  Jermaine Bransford (22), Marcus Sheppard (20) and Hobbs (19) combined for 61 of NSU's 80 points.
 
UCO is back in action again Saturday, hosting Northwest Missouri in another conference tilt at 3:30 p.m.
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