Box Score

Corbin Byford

Central Oklahoma UCO 17-12

Central Missouri UCM 20-8

Central Oklahoma UCO

17-12

Final

Mar. 02, 2017

Central Missouri UCM

20-8

Score By Periods
Team	1	2	F
Central Oklahoma UCO	28	26	54
Central Missouri UCM	27	32	59

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | 3/2/2017 4:53:00 PM | Chris Brannick

Broncho season ends in MIAA Quarterfinals

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The University of Central Oklahoma men's basketball season came to an end Thursday in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association quarterfinals at Municipal Auditorium after the Bronchos lost to Central Missouri 59-54.

UCO finished the season 17-12 and it ended in the MIAA quarterfinal for the third year in a row.

Corbin Byford led the Bronchos Thursday, scoring 20 points. The senior added 13 rebounds and three blocked shots. Josh Holliday had 13 points and was a perfect 5-of-5 from the free throw line.

"We just couldn't make the shots today," UCO head coach Tom Hankins said. "We got a lot of looks we were trying to get, we were happy with that, but we just couldn't hit our shots tonight.

"I'm really proud of this bunch for the way they fought," Hankins said. "We needed to get stops on defense because we weren't hitting our shots and our guys did that. They fought like hell."

The Bronchos held a late lead.

With 1:51 to play, Jake Hammond followed a Holliday layup and when the ball came off the rim, Hammond slammed it home. That put UCO ahead 54-52.

But that was the last basket for the Bronchos.

Central Missouri answered with a 3-pointer on the other end to make it 55-54, then hit four free throws to close the game.

Holliday got a look at an off-balance layup with 13 seconds left that would have tied the game. UCO had to foul after that. The Bronchos, down by three with 7.5 seconds left appeared to have one last chance, but Central Missouri opted to foul before Central could take a shot.

Marquis Johnson missed the first free throw with four seconds on the clock, then intentionally missed the second.

Hammond and Johnson finished with six points each. Jordan London added two. Corey Alpough and Xavier Howard scored four and three respectively off the bench.

UCO's fight to stay in the game began in the second half. The Bronchos made a 7-0 run to end the half and take their first lead of the game 28-27.

Central Missouri took a lead with 17:39 to go in the second half – on the first basket of the second half – and the Bronchos spent the next 11 minutes clawing back before retaking the lead on two Holliday free throws with 6:32 to go.

The first half was not as steady. Instead the first 20 minutes were made up mostly from five separate runs by both teams.

Central Oklahoma made a 5-0 run on a Corbin Byford free throw, a Byford layup, and a big fastbreak two-handed throw down by Josh Holliday to close the gap to 13-12.

Central Missouri answered with a 6-0 run with two baskets and two free throws to push its lead to 19-12.

Then the Bronchos responded with a 7-0 run themselves. Jordan London drove to the basket to get the first bucket, Jake Hammond sank one of two free throws, Corey Alpough hit a jumper, and Byford made a layup to tie the game 19-19.

Central Missouri stopped the run with a 3-pointer plus the foul, which Spencer Reeves sank to start a 6-0 for the Mules to make it 25-19.

After a Byford jumper and two more Central Missouri free throws, the Bronchos went on to finish the half on a 7-0 run. That started with another Byford basket with 1:57 to play in the half. Xavier Howard then knocked down a rare 3-pointer with 1:20 to play, and two free throws from Alpough with 40 seconds left gave the Bronchos their first lead of the game, 29-28.

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