Skip To Main Content

University of Central Oklahoma Athletics

The Official Site of Central Oklahoma University Athletics Central Oklahoma Athletics
Marquis Johnson
Marquis Johnson
88
Pittsburg State PSU 12-8, 5-6 MIAA
91
Winner Central Oklahoma UCO 14-5, 7-3 MIAA
Pittsburg State PSU
12-8, 5-6 MIAA
88
Final
91
Central Oklahoma UCO
14-5, 7-3 MIAA
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Pittsburg State PSU 42 46 88
Central Oklahoma UCO 47 44 91

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

Johnson's Last-second Trey Lifts UCO Past Gorillas

EDMOND (Jan. 25) – Marquis Johnson drained a 3-pointer with less than a second remaining to lift Central Oklahoma to a dramatic 91-88 Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association triumph over Pittsburg State Thursday night at Hamilton Field House.
 
The Gorillas missed a go-ahead 3-pointer with five seconds left and Marqueese Grayson grabbed the rebound in traffic before sprinting the other way.  He got just past half-court before finding Johnson on the left wing and Johnson's wide-open offering from 22-feet hit nothing but net with 0.7 seconds left.
 
PSU had one last chance, but Johnson picked off a long desperation pass near mid-court just ahead of the buzzer to seal the thrilling win.
 
 "I was hoping he (Grayson) would pass it to me and the shot felt good off my hand," said Johnson, who made three treys and scored 14 points in the win.  "Thank Marqueese Grayson for the pass.  I thought it was going in and thank goodness it did."
 
"Marqueese Grayson made a great pass after the rebound and I thought Marquis was going to try to get to the rim, but he put up a great shot," head coach Tom Hankins said.  "I had a good feeling.  Marquis is just kind of kid.  He made a lot of shots like that in high school and I like him taking shots like that."
 
The Bronchos overcame foul trouble – four players ending the game with four fouls – and PSU's 21-9 scoring advantage at the free throw line to pull out the back-and-forth battle that featured 11 lead changes and seven ties.
 
Corbin Byford led five players in double figures with 20 points.  Johnson and Jake Hammond had 14 points apiece, while Grayson finished with 13 points, a team-high seven rebounds and four assists.
 
Jordan Hemphill provided 12 points and three steals off the bench.  Jordan London (seven) and Phabian Glasco (six) completed the scoring for UCO, which improved to 14-5 on the season and 7-3 in the league.
 
The Bronchos played without defensive whiz Anthony Roberson – who missed the game with a knee injury – and gave up a season-high 88 points as Pitt State shot 53.6 percent from the field.
 
"They are a highly, highly talented offensive team and we had a hard time guarding them," Hankins said.  "But we just toughed it out and toughed it out."
 
UCO trailed by as many as seven in the first half before surging in front 47-42 by intermission and the Bronchos pushed their lead to 10 at 54-44 on a short Hammond jumper early in the second half.
 
It was an eight-point cushion (59-51) following a London 3-pointer at the 15:34 mark, but the Gorillas went on a 10-2 run to pull even at 61-all and eventually took a series of six-point leads.
 
The last of those was 81-75 and Central answered with eight unanswered points.
 
Byford started that spurt with a layup, Grayson followed with a 15-foot jumper and then Hemphill tied it with another layup before Johnson swished two free throws at 4:06 to put UCO on top 83-81.
 
PSU went back ahead 87-85 with 2:29 remaining, but Hammond muscled inside to put in a tough layup in a crowd at 2:01 and was fouled.  He drained the charity shot to make it 88-87.
 
The Gorillas made one of two foul shots at 1:01 to tie it and Grayson missed a 3-pointer at 0:37 to set up PSU's late go-ahead try that led to Johnson's game-winner.
 
UCO is back in action Saturday, ending a three-game homestand with a 3:30 p.m. contest against Missouri Southern.
Print Friendly Version
Skip Ad
Skip Sponsors