Box Score

Central Okla. CentOK 24-7,18-4 Mid-America Intercollegiate

Upper Iowa UIU 26-5,18-4 NSIC

Central Okla. CentOK

24-7,18-4 Mid-America Intercollegiate

Final

Mar. 12, 2022

Upper Iowa UIU

26-5,18-4 NSIC

Score By Periods
Team	1	2	F
Central Okla. CentOK	33	41	74
Upper Iowa UIU	54	37	91

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | 3/12/2022 11:24:00 PM | Chris Brannick

Hoops Season Ends In National Tourney

Bronchos Make 18th National Tournament Appearance But Fall Short In First Round

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – The University of Central Oklahoma men's basketball team's season came crashing to an end Saturday with a 91-74 loss to Upper Iowa in the first round of the 2022 NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Championship.

Central Oklahoma finished the season 24-7.

"I love my guys," UCO head men's basketball coach Bob Hoffman said. "We got in a hole early and they didn't quit. They didn't quit on each other and they never gave up. We battled back, but credit to Upper Iowa for their win."

Isaiah Wade led Central Oklahoma with a huge, 30-point, 11-rebound game in what ends up his last in a Broncho uniform. The senior forward was 12-for-18 from the floor, including 2-for-4 on 3-point attempts, and 4-for-6 from the free-throw line.

"Just leave it all out there," Wade said after the game. "I hate for to end like this, but we got here. I'm proud to say that. Just didn't go our way today."

Wade scored more points than any other player in the Central Regional quarterfinals Saturday.

Callen Haydon added 19 points and five assists. He was 8-for-16 overall and also went 2-for-4 on 3-point attempts. He made his only free-throw attempt in the game.

Fort the first five minutes of Saturday's matchup, Central Oklahoma and Upper Iowa traded blows. There were five lead changes and four ties, all in the first 5:38 of game time.

Wade scored the game's first basket on a putback layup. He gave UCO a 4-2 lead on another putback.

Haydon gave Central a 7-6 lead on an pull-up jumper and-1. Then he gave the Bronchos a 10-9 lead on a 3-pointer.

Camryn Givens made it 11-9 hitting 1 of 2 free-throw attempts with 15:01 to play.

But UIU tied the game with a layup, 11-11, with 14:46 to play in the first half and then the Peacocks from Fayette, Iowa took a 13-11 with 14:22 to play and never trailed again.

Upper Iowa made an early 11-0 run to take a 20-11 lead and never looked back.

The Bronchos trailed by as many as 21 points in the first half and trailed by that much at halftime, 54-33.

Central Oklahoma shot 41.9 percent in the first half to Upper Iowa's 57.9 percent. UIU hit six 3-pointers in the first 20 minutes and shot 42.9 percent from behind the arc.

The Bronchos didn't roll over in the second half though. After Upper Iowa went ahead by 25 points, 60-35, with 15:57 to play in the game, Central slowly assembled a 23-7 run over the next nine minutes to crawl back into the game and cut the deficit down to nine points.

It started with a pair of free-throws from Preston Aymond with 15:34 to play. Haydon hit a jumper before a pair of Wade layups. Aymond made another free-throw, then Haydon made another bucket.

Aymond hit a 3-pointer with 10:13 to play to cap off a 14-0 run that cut the lead to 60-49.

Upper Iowa ended the first big run with a pair of free-throws but an and-1 from Givens with 8:35 to play made it a 10-point game, 62-52.

Iowa hit a 3-pointer with just over eight minutes to go to push it back to 13, but Jaden Wells's floater in the lane was a quick answer. After a pair of UIU free-throws made it 67-54 with 7:21 to play, Givens was back to his aggressive driving and earned a trip to the free-throw line. He made both to cut the lead back to 11 points.

Wells added another floater to cut the lead to single digits, 67-58, with 6:44 to play.

Unfortunately Central Oklahoma ran out of gas with the huge 23-7 run. Upper Iowa answered with its own run and that put the game away.

Central Oklahoma finished the game shooting 42.2 percent. The Bronchos made 27 of 64 shots overall. UCO shot 33.3 percent from outside, hitting 6 of 18 3-point attempts. And the Bronchos were 70 percent from the free-throw line, making 14 of 20 shots from the stripe.

Aymond scored nine points to lead the bench effort. He was 2-for-6 from the floor with both makes coming on 3-point attempts. He went 3-for-4 from the free-throw line and added three rebounds, three assists, two blocked shots and one steal.

Givens finished with six points – and 1,006 following his third season with the Bronchos. He went 1-for-7 but also had eight rebounds and a steal.

Wells scored four points on 2-for-5 shooting. Davon Richardson also scored four off the bench. He was 1-for-7 but had nine rebounds, two assists and one blocked shot.

Jalyn Turner finished with two points and two rebounds on 1-for-2 shooting.

Central Oklahoma closes the book on the 2021-22 season with a first-round loss in the NCAA Tournament. The Bronchos tied the sixth-best win total in school history this season, won the MIAA regular season title for the first time since joining the league 10 years ago, and made its 18th appearance in the national tournament and first since 2011.

Print Friendly Version