Skip To Main Content

University of Central Oklahoma Athletics

The Official Site of Central Oklahoma University Athletics Central Oklahoma Athletics
Curtis Haywood
58
Northwest Mo. St. NMSU 14-2,7-2 Mid-America Intercollegiate
69
Winner Central Okla. CentOK 16-1,10-1 Mid-America Intercollegiate
Northwest Mo. St. NMSU
14-2,7-2 Mid-America Intercollegiate
58
Final
69
Central Okla. CentOK
16-1,10-1 Mid-America Intercollegiate
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Northwest Mo. St. NMSU 27 31 58
Central Okla. CentOK 38 31 69

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | | Chris Brannick

No. 7 UCO Dominates No. 4 Northwest Missouri

Central Oklahoma Leads Wire-to-Wire In Double-Digit MIAA Matchup Of Top 10 Squads

EDMOND – No. 7 Central Oklahoma led wire-to-wire in a convincing deconstruction of three-time defending Division II champion and No. 4 rated Northwest Missouri Thursday night at Hamilton Field House.
 
UCO improved to 16-1 on the season with the win and the Bronchos are now 10-1 in the MIAA. Northwest fell to 14-2 overall and 7-2 in league play.
 
"Our guys played out of their minds tonight," UCO head men's basketball coach Bob Hoffman said. "There are certainly things that we did that weren't our best, but for them to play defense the way they did tonight was truly special. And they got it done on both ends of the floor. I'm really proud of this team for this one."
 
Northwest Missouri entered the game with the best field-goal percentage in the country at 55.1 percent. UCO, which boasts the second-ranked defensive field-goal percentage in the country, held the Bearcats from Maryville, Missouri to just 38.2 percent on Thursday night. The suffocating defense bothered the Bearcats into a 19.0 percent mark on 3-point shots, well below the team average of 41 percent before the game began.
 
The Bronchos also shot lights out on the offensive end of the floor. UCO hit a season-high 59.5 percent of its shots Thursday, going 22-for-37 from the floor. Central Oklahoma went 7-for-14 from behind the arc, a 50 percent mark that is also a season best to date. UCO did however shoot an uncharacteristically low 60 percent from the free-throw line, which is the lowest mark of the season.
 
Jaden Wells led the UCO effort, scoring 19 points on 5 of 8 shooting. He went 2-for-3 from behind the 3-point line and 7-for-9 from the free-throw line. Wells also had four rebounds, three assists and one steal.
 
Curtis Haywood scored 15 points on a 6-for-8 shooting performance. He went 2-for-4 from outside and just 1-for-4 from the free-throw line. Haywood also filled up the stat sheet with five rebounds, four assists, two steals and one blocked shot.
 
Camryn Givens added a big double-double with 14 points and a season-high 12 rebounds. He went 4-for-10 from the field and 1-for-4 from behind the 3-point line, but was 5-for-6 from the free-throw line. Givens pulled down 11 defensive rebounds and he also had a steal and two blocks in the game.
 
Preston Aymond scored eight points to go with four rebounds and Jalyn Turner had eight big points off the bench to go with two rebounds. Danquez Dawsey added three points and Tre'Veon Ellis two to round out the scoring for the Bronchos.
 
UCO never trailed in its Top 10 showdown with Northwest on Thursday night. The Bronchos led 5-0 after Haywood and Givens got things started. Haywood also gave UCO a 7-3 lead two minutes into the action.
 
But a big run early set the tone. Givens hit a 3-pointer with 16:35 to play in the opening half and sparked a 10-0 run in less than two minutes. Haywood hit his second 3-pointer of the game after Givens did, then Gives made a layup on the next possession thanks to an assist from Aymond. Then it was Aymond who finished thanks to an assist from Turner.
 
The 10-0 run spanned 1:46 of game time and UCO went 4-for-4 during the stretch. NWMSU went 0-for-3 in that time and found itself down 17-6 at the first media timeout of the night.
 
Northwest got it back to five points with 11 minutes left, and four points with eight minutes to play, but UCO led by 14 with just under two minutes left in the first half. The Bronchos took a 38-27 lead to halftime.
 
A 5-0 run by Northwest to start the second half cut the lead to six points, but UCO rebounded and pushed it all the way back up double digits just five minutes into the second half. The Bronchos led by 13 points with 7:51 to go before Northwest made essentially its final push.
 
The lead was cut to six points once again with 5:46 to play, but Wells answered with an and-1 3-point play and when he hit another jumper with four minutes left, the lead was back to 11 points, 60-49.
 
That was the last field goal of the game for the Bronchos, who went 9-for-14 from the free-throw line down the stretch to close out the win.
 
Central Oklahoma and Northwest Missouri have played once in the regular season in each of the past six seasons, however, UCO visits Northwest on the final week of the 2022-23 regular season for a rematch.
Print Friendly Version
Skip Ad
Skip Sponsors