LSC Roundup 3-13

Fort Hays State Ends Buffaloes’ Postseason, 75-49 - WTAM Sports
Tigers can 11 three-pointers in taking NCAA quarterfinal win

EDMOND, Okla. – 13th-ranked and fourth-seeded Fort Hays State hit five three pointers in the game’s opening six minutes en route to a 75-49 victory over 23rd-ranked and fifth-seeded West Texas A&M in quarterfinal action of the NCAA Division II South Central Region Men’s Basketball tournament, in Edmond, Okla., Saturday night.

WTAMU sees its season come to a close at 23-7, while Fort Hays State improves to 26-6 and will face top-seeded Central Oklahoma Sunday evening.

As a result of FHSU’s opening round barrage, the Buffaloes found themselves trailing, 23-6 at the 13:52 mark of the first half.

"Fort Hays got off to the kind of start that you dream about," said WT head coach Rick Cooper. "It took away some of our confidence and its very difficult to recover from that kind of performance."

"You have to give them credit,” Cooper continued. “They took us out of our offensive pattern. We wanted to go inside and we couldn’t. They blocked four shots in the first half, alone. When you struggle on one end of the floor, it’s very hard to play well on the other end, as well.”

For the game, Fort Hays hit 11 of 22 three pointers, while shooting at a 55.8 percent clip, overall from the field.

Guards Dominique Jones, Corbin Kuntzsch and Moses Dayee combined to hit 10 of 17 from behind the arc. Jones finished the game with 15 points, Kuntzsch tallied 17 and Dayee had 10 points.

WT’s Jacquiese Holcombe finished the game with 16 points and a game-high 12 rebounds, marking his third double-double of the season. The College Park, Ga., senior, playing his final game as a Buffalo, grabbed nine defensive and three offensive rebounds, as well as hitting eight of 10 from the foul line.

Senior guards Joe Mincey (Brunswick, Ga.) and LaDarius Hall (Thomasville, Ga.) reached double-digits scoring in their final game wearing the Maroon and White, as well. Mincey tallied 11 points, while Hall contributed 10. Hall ends his career ranked among the top-10 free throw shooters in WT history.

The Buffaloes matched the taller Tigers on the boards, with each team grabbing 31 rebounds. WT had 13 offensive boards, while FHSU pulled down 26 on the defensive end.

WT was held to just 30 percent from the floor and a mere 17.6 percent on three of 17 shooting from beyond the arc.

In closing out the season with 23 wins, WT recorded the most wins that they’ve had since a 23-win 2005-06 campaign.


Central Oklahoma 79, Texas A&M-International 70 (OT)
EDMOND (March 12) – Jarrod McDaniel's three-point play with eight seconds remaining got Central Oklahoma into overtime and the No. 4-ranked Bronchos survived upset-minded Texas A&M International 79-70 Saturday night at Hamilton Field House in the first round of the NCAA Division II South Central Regional.

The Dustdevils overcame a 17-point second-half deficit and appeared headed for a monumental upset after hitting one of two free throws to take a 65-62 lead with 12 seconds left, but the speedy McDaniel had other plans.

The junior guard raced down court and drove inside for a layup at :08 while drawing a foul. McDaniel -- a 47.9-percent free throw shooter on the season -- swished the charity toss to tie it and TAIU couldn't get off a final shot.

UCO trailed 70-69 midway through the five-minute extra period before taking the lead for good at 72-70 on Victor Driver's 3-pointer with 2:01 to play.

TAIU missed its next three shots and the Bronchos pulled away at the foul line, getting four free throws from Dauntae Williams and one from June Carter to go up 77-70 before Brent Friday's breakaway dunk just before the final buzzer ended it.

It was a school-record 29th win for UCO, which improved to 29-3 and moved into Sunday's 7:30 p.m. semifinals against Fort Hays State. The Bronchos also stretched their home winning streak to 24 in a row.

Williams finished with 24 points, six assists and two steals to lead UCO. Driver had three 3-pointers and 16 points off the bench, while Friday added 12 points, McDaniel nine points and three assists and Tyler Phillips eight points and nine rebounds.

The Bronchos trailed 15-9 lead before coming back to take a 32-26 halftime lead on Williams' long trey at the buzzer and UCO opened the second half with 11 unanswered points to seemingly take command.

That spurt gave the Bronchos a 17-point cushion (43-26) with 16:25 left to play and it was still a double-digit lead at 57-45 on a Driver jumper with 7:59 remaining.

TAMUI got back in the game with an 11-0 run that made it 57-56 with 5:33 to play and then tied it at 61-all before surging ahead 64-61 with 32 seconds left. Driver made one foul shot at 0:13 to make it 64-62 and the Dustdevils hit one of two free throws at 0:12 to stretch the lead to three before McDaniel saved the day.

-Courtesy of UCO Sports Information



UCO advances to regional final
Central Oklahoma 68, Northeastern State 60

Facing a 10-point deficit with 10 minutes to play against a team it had already lost to by double digits twice this season would be too big an obstacle to overcome for most teams.

Not for Ashley Beckley and her Central Oklahoma teammates.

Beckley scored 10 of her game-high 22 points in the final 2:05 as the Bronchos stunned top-seeded and No. 11-ranked Northeastern State 68-60 here Saturday night in the semifinals of the NCAA Division II South Central Regional.

UCO trailed 47-37 with 9:43 remaining and was down 54-47 with 5:03 left before ending the game on a devastating 21-6 run to rally past the host RiverHawks and move into Monday's finals.

The fifth-seeded Bronchos, who had lost by 15 and 18 points to NSU during the regular season, improved to 22-9 and will take on No. 2 seed Northwest Missouri at 7 p.m. Monday with a berth in the Elite Eight on the line.

It's the second Sweet 16 appearance in three years for UCO, which lost starting guard Courtney Allen in Friday's last-second first-round win over Washburn and had just eight players available against NSU.

UCO's chances looked dim when it trailed 54-47 at the 5:03 mark, but Richardson scored five straight points to get the Bronchos close and Alyssa Fuxa tied it at 56-all with 3:07 to play to ignite a game-deciding 12-0 run.

Beckley broke the deadlock with a layup at 2:05 and she went inside for another score at 1:11 to make it 60-56. The senior star and Heather Davis then made back-to-back steals that led to each making two free throws and UCO was up 64-56 with 40 seconds left.

Beckley ended the run when she was fouled after rebounding an NSU miss and made both foul shots to up the lead to 66-56 at 0:30.

The RiverHawks scored four quick points to get within 66-60 at 0:12 and forced another turnover, but Beckley pulled down another NSU miss and made two more free throws with 11 seconds remaining to cap off the dramatic upset.

Beckley was 7-of-14 from the field and 8-of-12 from the line in her 22-point outing while also finishing with a game-best 12 rebounds.

Richardson made 7-of-11 shots and all five free throw tries in adding 19 points and 10 boards, while Davis went 4-of-4 from the line in finishing with 10 points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals. Britney Morgan chipped in seven points, five rebounds and five assists.

-Courtesy of UCO Sports Information