UCO Photo Services

Box Score

Jarred Bairstow

Central Oklahoma UCO 16-14

Fort Hays State FHSU 20-9

Central Oklahoma UCO

16-14

Final

Mar. 04, 2016

Fort Hays State FHSU

20-9

Score By Periods
Team	1	2	F
Central Oklahoma UCO	35	26	61
Fort Hays State FHSU	36	31	67

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | 3/4/2016 11:11:00 PM

Tigers End UCO Season In MIAA Tourney

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (March 4) – A six-minute scoreless stretch early in the second half was Central Oklahoma's undoing in the quarterfinals of the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association Post-season Tournament here Friday night.

The Bronchos missed five shots and had five turnovers during the decisive span to see a one-point lead turn into a 10-point deficit and a late rally fell short as UCO dropped a 67-61 decision to Fort Hays State at Municipal Auditorium.

The Tigers improved to 20-9 and moved into Saturday's semifinals against Northwest Missouri, while the Bronchos had a four-game winning streak ended in finishing the season 16-14.

"I thought we battled hard and played with great effort," first-year head coach Tom Hankins said in the post-game press conference. "We did a great job defensively holding them to 38 percent, but we turned the ball over way too many times (17) and when you make only 6-of-23 3-pointers it's tough."

Jarred Bairstow led UCO with 17 points, while Cornell Neal added 11 points as the only other player in double figures. Corey Alpough had eight points off the bench and Trai Jordan chipped in a team-high nine rebounds and seven points.

Jordan's layup in the opening seconds of the second half gave the Bronchos a 38-37 lead, but UCO didn't score again for six minutes as the Tigers went on an 11-0 run to move in front 47-37.

FHSU pushed its lead to 13 (57-44) with 6:34 remaining before UCO mounted one last charge, ripping off a 12-1 spurt to pull within one.

Neal started the run with a layup, Jacob Strassle followed a FHSU turnover with a 3-pointer from the top of the key and Seth Heckart answered a Tiger free throw with two of his own to make it 58-51 with 3:05 left.

The teams traded misses before Bairstow drilled a 3-pointer from the wing at the 1:44 mark to pull UCO within 58-54 and the Australian senior completed the frantic burst with a layup off a fine Jordan feed to make it 58-56 at 1:06.

But the Bronchos couldn't complete the comeback. FHSU hit a huge 3-pointer at the 43-second mark and then followed a UCO miss with two free throws at 0:28 to make it 63-56 and put the game away.

The Bronchos bolted to a 7-0 lead three minutes into the game on a pair of Bairstow layups and Strassle's 3-pointer from the corner and were up 9-5 after a Neal layup before FHSU scored 11 unanswered points.

UCO missed four shots and had a turnover during that stretch in falling behind 16-9 and the Tigers went up by eight (28-20) with 5:45 left in the half.

The Bronchos responded with a 7-0 spurt, sandwiching a Heckart trey from the top of the key with layups by Bairstow and Jordan London to make it 28-27 at the 4:24 mark.

UCO took its first lead since the opening minutes at 31-30 on two Neal free throws with 1:43 left, but the Tigers scored four straight points to regain a 34-31 advantage.

Alpough's dunk off a Heckart feed made it 34-33 and he answered a FHSU bucket with a layup at the halftime buzzer to keep the Bronchos within one (36-35).

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