Bronchos Keep Rolling

2/13/2013 10:21:00 PM

Nic Combs

Box Score

EDMOND (Feb. 13) – Cal Andrews drained a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to give Central Oklahoma the halftime lead and the Bronchos continued their long-distance assault in the second half to run away from Emporia State 83-69 Wednesday night at Hamilton Field House.

It was the fourth straight Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association win for UCO, which evened its overall record at 11-11 while improving to 9-5 in the league to stay just a game behind Central Missouri and Fort Hays State in the crowded league standings.

Andrews' trey from the corner started an impressive outside shooting display that saw the Bronchos make nine of their next 12 attempts from beyond the arc in blowing the game open.

The Bronchos shot a blistering 62.5 percent (10-of-16) from long range in the second half and ended up making 14-of-29 treys (48.3 percent) for the game. UCO shot 51.0 percent (25-of-49) overall and also committed just 10 turnovers.

“We're playing with a lot of confidence right now and that showed in the way we shot the ball tonight,” head coach Terry Evans said. “The league's pretty wide open and we're playing as well as anyone.”

Josh Gibbs scored 15 of his game-high 21 points in the second half when he made 4-of-6 3-point tries, while Christian Huffman made his first five shots of the game en route to a season-high 16-point outing.

Andrews was 5-of-7 from long range in finishing with 15 points, Spencer Smith added 14 points and a team-high eight rebounds and Jamell Cormier contributed 13 points, seven rebounds and six assists.

UCO trailed only once, at 5-2 three minutes into the game. Andrews soon tied it with his first 3-pointer and the Bronchos led by as many as eight (28-20) before ESU rallied to pull even at 33-all with five seconds left in the half.

That's when Andrews nailed his corner shot, taking a half-court pass from Cormier and swishing through the go-ahead basket as the horn sounded.

A short Huffman jumper and Cormier 3-pointer pushed UCO's lead to eight (41-33) in the opening minute of the second half and the Bronchos started to pull away.

It was a nine-point advantage at 49-40 when Gibbs knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers from 25-plus feet and Smith followed with a trey from the wing in quick-strike 9-0 run that made it 58-40 at the 10:31 mark.

The Hornets whittled their deficit back to 12 (60-48) at 8:28, but two more treys by Gibbs and five points from Cormier sparked a 14-4 spurt that pushed the cushion to 22 (74-52) with 5:06 remaining.

UCO coasted in from there in reaching the .500 mark for the first time since the opening week of the season.

The Bronchos are off until going to Missouri Southern on Feb. 21.

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