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University of Central Oklahoma Athletics

The Official Site of Central Oklahoma University Athletics Central Oklahoma Athletics
Seth Heckart
92
Washburn WU 9-5, 5-4 MIAA
98
Winner Central Oklahoma UCO 7-8, 3-6 MIAA
Washburn WU
9-5, 5-4 MIAA
92
Final
98
Central Oklahoma UCO
7-8, 3-6 MIAA
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 OT 1 F
Washburn WU 40 41 11 92
Central Oklahoma UCO 48 33 17 98

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

Late Neal Heroics Lifts Bronchos

EDMOND (Jan. 9) – Cornell Neal scored four points in the final 14 seconds of regulation to force overtime and then hit a 3-pointer early in the extra period to propel Central Oklahoma past Washburn 98-92 Saturday afternoon at Hamilton Field House.
 
The Bronchos led most of the game, but were down 81-77 in the final seconds before Neal's late heroics forced OT.
 
The junior guard drew a foul while driving to the basket with 14 seconds left and made both free throws to make it 81-79, with UCO fouling the Ichabods at 0:13.
 
WU missed the front end of the one-and-one and Trai Jordan rebounded before getting the outlet pass to Neal, who drove in and made a tough, contested layup with eight seconds left to tie it.
 
A last-second 3-point try by the Ichabods was off the mark and the Bronchos never trailed in the five-minute extra session after Neal swished a 3-pointer from the top of the key 31 seconds in.
 
"That was a great win for us," head coach Tom Hankins said.  "I'm really proud of our guys for the way we gutted that out.  We had a good lead and gave that up, but we hit some key shots and came up with some big rebounds in crunch time."
 
Neal had his second straight 22-point outing, hitting 7-of-14 shots with four 3-pointers and all four foul shots while adding six rebounds and four assists.
 
Kendahl Amerson was big off the bench with five treys in a 22-point outing and Jarred Bairstow had his second consecutive huge game with career highs for points (19) and rebounds (11).
 
UCO also got 15 points, nine rebounds and two blocks from Jordan and 13 points, nine rebounds, five assists and two steals from Seth Heckart.
 
It was the highest-scoring game of the season for the Bronchos and the ninth decided by six points or less.  UCO improved to 8-9 overall and 3-6 in the league with its second straight win while dropping WU to 9-5 and 5-4.
 
Neal's OT-opening 3-pointer and two Bairstow free throws gave the Bronchos a quick 85-81 lead, but the lead was just 86-85 when Amerson drilled a long-distance trey at the 2:25 mark.
 
Bairstow answered two WU free throws with  a corner 3-pointer off a Heckart assist at 1:32 to make it 92-87 and UCO made just enough free throws the rest of the way to stay in front.
 
Amerson made four 3-pointers in scoring 18 first-half points and Heckart added 12 as the Bronchos took a 48-40 lead into intermission, with Bairstow's layup three minutes into the second half giving UCO a 55-45 advantage.
 
The Ichabods came back with an 11-1 run to draw even at 56-all and it was close the rest of the way, with WU taking its largest lead at 81-77 before Neal rescued the day.
 
The Bronchos travel to Nebraska-Kearney and Fort Hays State next week before returning to Edmond Jan. 21 to open a seven-game MIAA homestand.
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