Box Score Kearney, Neb. – The Nebraska-Kearney men's basketball team finished on a 17-4 run to rally past the Central Oklahoma Bronchos, 82-79, Friday night at the Health & Sports Center.
 
This was the regular season finale for both teams. UNK (14-12, 10-9) and regionally-ranked UCO (17-8, 11-8) will host MIAA Tournament first round games Tuesday night against teams to be determined.

The 12-team bracket will be released Saturday after the completion of this weekend's games; the Loper contest will tip at 7:00 p.m. on March 4th.

Had UNK lost tonight, they would've gone to Notheastern State Tuesday. The RiverHawks upset Fort Hays State, 75-72, tonight in Kansas.
 
Kearney came out on fire, making 8 of its first 11 shots to lead 22-10 seven minutes in. The scoring barrage includes four triples, three from Ravenna sophomore Connor Beranek.
 
However, UNK's offense went the way of the weather as they connected on only eight of their next 34 shots.  A very athletic and balanced UCO team was ahead 46-42 at the break and held its biggest lead of the night, 69-56, midway through the second half.
 
Sophomore Jarred Bairstow made one of two free throws with just over five minutes left to give the Bronchos a seemingly comfortable 75-65 lead.
 
That's when UNK made its move, starting with a triple by junior reserve Tyler Shields (Kearney H.S.). After a UCO turnover, he was fouled on another triple attempt and made one of the three freebies.

On the second miss, Shields grabbed the loose ball and Norfolk sophomore Ethan Brozek converted inside to cut the UCO lead to four, 75-71.
 
The teams traded two made free throws and then Beranek struck again, hitting a triple from well beyond NBA range. Twenty seconds later, a leaping Brozek stole the ball and that led to a layup by senior post Mike Dentlinger (Millard North).
 
Now up 78-77, the Lopers got two free throws from Brozek and two from true freshman Kevin Dineen (Creighton Prep) over the final 1:19 to finish the scoring.

UCO, the top three point shooting team in the MIAA, missed three shots behind the arc in the last 66 seconds, including a well-contested one by Seth Heckart with three seconds remaining.
 
Scoring 20 of its points off of 13 UCO turnovers, the Lopers finished 25 of 58 (43.1%) from the field. Getting out rebounded by five, they did sink 25 of 34 free throws (73.5%) and had only eight turnovers.
 
Brozek had team-highs in points (24) and rebounds (10) to record his fourth double double of the season. One of his nine made buckets was a thunderous dunk early in the second half that brought the H & S Center to its feet.
 
Beranek went 5 of 6 from triple land, and 6 of 6 at the line, to tally 23 with Dentlinger finishing with 13 points and four rebounds on "Senior Night."

Off the bench, Kentucky junior Delquan Thomas logged 24 minutes and had nine points, seven boards, two dimes and two steals.
 
He also played tough defensive on UCO's uber-quick pair of Aaron Anderson (team-high 19 points) and Heckhart (14 points, six assists & three steals). They helped the Bronchos build a lead, as did double doubles by Barstow (16 & 10) and senior Josh Gibbs (14 & 13).