Late Rally Puts Bronchos In MIAA Finals

3/8/2014 9:25:00 PM

Josh Gibbs

Box Score

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (March 8) -- Josh Gibbs made two pressure-packed free throws with 4.8 seconds remaining to cap a late rally that lifted Central Oklahoma past intrastate rival Northeastern State 61-60 here Saturday night in the semifinals of the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association Post-season Tournament at Municipal Auditorium.

The Bronchos overcame a six-point deficit in the final three minutes to take the slim one-point lead on Gibbs' foul shots and survived when NSU sharpshooter Bryton Hobbs was off the mark on a heavily contested 35-foot jumper at the buzzer.

UCO improved to 20-9 and moved into Sunday's 3:30 p.m. finals against No. 3 seed Missouri Southern, which knocked off Northwest Missouri 70-67 in the other semifinal.. The champion earns the league's automatic berth into the NCAA Division II national tournament.

"I'm so proud of our young men, especially with our effort on the defensive end," head coach Terry Evans said. "We were able to hold a team with a lot of firepower to 60 points and that's an incredible achievement, especially when we struggled a little offensively.

"Our guys showed a lot of heart and just never gave up. We're playing our best ball of the season at the right time of the year."

The Bronchos led by eight (43-35) with 14:04 left to play, but NSU responded with a 14-1 run to move in from 49-44 just four minutes later and the RiverHawks led 57-51 after Hobbs' layup at the 3:30 mark.

UCO, which struggled all night from 3-point territory, got back in it with a pair of long-range bombs.

Jarred Bairstow nailed a wide-open trey from the corner off a fine Gibbs pass for his only basket of the game at 3:07 to get the Bronchos within three and Cal Andrews hit another 3-pointer a minute later to tie it at 57-all.

Hobbs' sixth trey of the night broke the deadlock with 1:27 left before UCO pulled within 60-59 on Gibbs rebound and follow shot at 0:50. Hobbs missed a long 3-point try with 21 seconds left and the rebound went off an NSU player to give the Bronchos one last chance.

UCO went to its workhorse for the final shot and Gibbs' short jumper was off the mark, but the 6-foot-5 senior star grabbed the rebound and was fouled going back up.

Gibbs swished the first free throw to tie it and then, after an NSU timeout, splashed through the second for the game-winner.

The Bronchos shot just 29.4 percent (5-of-17) from 3-point range, but outrebounded NSU 35-25 and held huge 38-12 scoring advantage in the paint.

Gibbs led the way once again with 20 points, 11 rebounds and five assists. Aaron Anderson made 7-of-10 shots in a 16-point, five-rebound outing, while Andrews and Philip Brown added nine points apiece.

The ninth-seeded RiverHawks, who knocked off top seed Central Missouri 84-82 in Friday's quarterfinals, got 28 points, six rebounds and six assists from Hobbs.

UCO jumped out to a 9-2 lead five minutes into the game as Gibbs had six points and led by eight (24-16) after Jacob Richardson's driving layup with 7:41 remaining. NSU came back to tie it, but Anderson's follow shot just ahead of the horn gave the Bronchos a 31-29 halftime advantage.

The RiverHawks hit a 3-pointer to open the second half and take their first lead of the game at 32-31 before UCO responded with five straight points to move back in front. The lead grew to eight at 43-35 on Brown's layup off an Andrews pass at the 14:04 mark, but NSU came right back to set up the wild finish.

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