Bronchos End Road Trip Saturday At Missouri Southern

1/27/2017 12:31:00 PM

Xavier Howard

Surging Central Oklahoma wraps up a three-game road-swing at 3 p.m. Saturday when the Bronchos face Missouri Southern in Joplin, Mo.

UCO is 12-6 on the season and in a two-way tie for second in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association standings at 7-3. The Lions are 12-8 and 6-5.

The Bronchos are 5-2 away from home this year and have won the first two games of the current road-trip, including a 78-71 overtime triumph over Pittsburg State Thursday.

Senior Corbin Byford led UCO in that win with 19 points and seven rebounds, making 5-of-6 free throws in the final 1:50 of OT to keep the Bronchos in front. Junior Jake Hammond scored six of his 15 points in the extra session and added a team-high eight boards.

Sophomore Josh Holliday added 11 points and Jordan London 10, including a clutch 3-pointer with 51 seconds left in OT to give UCO a four-point lead. Senior Xavier Howard was big off the bench with nine points and nine rebounds.

MSSU also won Thursday night, tying a school-record with 15 made 3-pointers in a 100-93 home victory over Northeastern State.

"Missouri Southern is a dangerous offensive team that really pushes the tempo and they like to shoot a lot of 3-pointers," UCO head coach Tom Hankins said. "It will be a big challenge for us defensively and we don't have a lot of time to prepare, but we're looking forward to it."

The Lions are averaging a league-best 85.2 points a game while ranking second in 3-pointers (9.0/game) and free throw percentage (77.3).

MSSU has three of the conference's top 13 individual scorers in C.J. Carr (4th, 20.5), J.J. Cratit (10th, 14.7) and Elyjah Clark (13th, 14.3). Carr also leads the MIAA in steals (2.3) and is second in assists (5.0).

The Bronchos have four players averaging in double figures – Holliday (14.6), Byford (11.4), Hammond (10.6) and freshman Marquis Johnson (10.6). Byford adds 6.9 rebounds a game and Hammond 5.7.

UCO will be looking to end a four-game losing streak against the Lions, who have a 6-4 lead in the series.

The Bronchos return home next Thursday to host Central Missouri at 7:30 p.m.

Print Friendly Version

Related Videos

Related Stories