Bronchos Advance To MIAA Quarterfinals

3/4/2014 9:52:00 PM

Josh Gibbs

Box Score

EDMOND (March 4) – Josh Gibbs and Philip Brown combined for 46 points and 27 rebounds to carry Central Oklahoma past Missouri Western in the first round of the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association Post-season Tournament Tuesday night at Hamilton Field House.

The Bronchos used an 8-0 run early in the second half to break a 38-all tie and then pulled away the final 10 minutes of the game in advancing to the quarterfinals with a 74-57 victory.

Gibbs made six 3-pointers and scored a career-high 32 points while adding 15 rebounds, three assists and three steals. Brown also had a double-double, hitting 7-of-8 shots in scoring 14 points to go with 12 boards and two blocked shots.

UCO hounded the Griffons into 26.7-percent shooting from the field and improved to 18-9 heading into Friday's 2:15 p.m. quarterfinal contest against Fort Hays State at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Mo.

"We came out a little slow and didn't seen ready to play, but our defense was good the whole game," head coach Terry Evans said. "We played better the second half and did what we needed to do, which was win the game and get to the next round."

Both teams got off to a slow start and it was just 4-3 in favor of the Bronchos nearly five minutes into the game.

UCO looked like it was headed for a rout early after going ahead 14-7 on a Gibbs 3-pointer at the 12:48 mark, but the Griffons came back with an 11-3 run to take an 18-17 lead and it was close the rest of the half.

The Bronchos led 36-33 at intermission and MWSU tied it with a 3-pointer 35 seconds into the second half before UCO retaliated with eight unanswered points to take the lead for good.

Gibbs started that spurt with a layup, Cal Andrews followed a Griffon turnover with a short jumper, Aaron Anderson drove inside for a layup and Brown's close-range bank shot had the Bronchos on top 44-36 with 16:20 remaining.

It was a six-point advantage (53-47) at 11:18 before a three-point play by Gibbs, a layup by Anderson off a Gibbs assist and a tip-in by Brown pushed the lead to 13 at 60-47 by the 9:20 mark.

The lead continued to grow and peaked at 24 (74-50) with 1:50 left to play when Gibbs drained a 25-footer from the wing for his final points of the night.

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