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University of Central Oklahoma Athletics

The Official Site of Central Oklahoma University Athletics Central Oklahoma Athletics
Josh Holliday
88
Winner Central Oklahoma UCO 1-0
80
Northwestern Okla. NWOSU 0-1
Winner
Central Oklahoma UCO
1-0
88
Final
80
Northwestern Okla. NWOSU
0-1
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Central Oklahoma UCO 44 44 88
Northwestern Okla. NWOSU 32 48 80

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | | Haley Eldridge

Josh Holliday Leads UCO To Season-Opening Win

TAHLEQUAH, Okla – The University of Central Oklahoma Men's Basketball team defeated Northwestern Oklahoma State on Friday afternoon 88-80 to open the 2018-19 regular season at the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association – Great American Conference Crossover Challenge at the Tahlequah Event Center.
 
It was a wire-to-wire lead for the Bronchos, who got a 3-pointer from Marquis Johnson to open the scoring on the day just 35 seconds into the game. The Bronchos led by as many as 14 in the first half on two occasions, and once more by the same margin in the second half.
 
"I'm proud of the guys for their effort today," UCO third-year head basketball coach Tom Hankins said. "The first game is always iffy because we haven't really practiced that much. But the team came out and fought hard early and got a good win."
 
The Bronchos were led by senior Josh Holliday's standout performance. He went 5-for-7 from the behind the arc and tallied 27 points on the day. Holliday was just short of career-high 29 points and added five rebounds and a pair of assists on the day. He was 9-for-12 overall from the field and also added four free-throws.
 
"I'm proud of Josh for his effort today too," Hankins added. "He is such a talented kid and when he gets it going, you see he's capable of some pretty good things."
 
Johnson had 16 points and Jordan Hemphill added 15 points and a team-high nine rebounds. Adarius Avery (12 points) and Ashford Golden (10) also had double figures for the Bronchos on the day.
 
UCO shot 46.3 percent from the floor on the day including 45 percent from 3-point land on 10-for 22 from deep. UCO added 28 free-throws too, shooting 75 percent from the charity stripe.
 
The Bronchos start their season off with a win for the 12th-straight season and fourth straight under Hankins. UCO next takes on Southwestern Oklahoma State on Saturday at 2:15 p.m. to wrap up the conference crossover.
 
Southwestern is coached by Terry Evans, who coached for the Bronchos from 2002-2015. He is the winningest coach in UCO history with 233 all-time wins.
 
SWOSU took on NSU late Friday to open their season.
 
 
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