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University of Nebraska - Kearney Athletics

Winston Cook
Corbey R. Dorsey
65
Neb.-Kearney UNK 1-4,1-4 Mid-America Intercollegiate
72
Winner Central Okla. CentOK 1-3,1-3 Mid-America Intercollegiate
Neb.-Kearney UNK
1-4,1-4 Mid-America Intercollegiate
65
Final
72
Central Okla. CentOK
1-3,1-3 Mid-America Intercollegiate
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Neb.-Kearney UNK 34 31 65
Central Okla. CentOK 25 47 72

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

Big Second Half Propels UCO over UNK, 72-65

Kearney, Neb. – The Central Oklahoma Bronchos used a big second half to rally past Nebraska-Kearney, 72-65, Saturday evening in Edmond, Okla.

UCO, who didn't have a Thursday night game this week, improves to 1-3 while the Lopers (1-4) lose in Edmond for an eighth straight winter. Almost all of those setbacks have come by less than 10 points.

Alliance senior forward Austin Luger had all 18 of his points in the first half as UNK opened up a 34-23 cushion. In a Thursday loss at Newman Luger had 12 points in the final five minutes. However, the Lopers 34-25 intermission advantage evaporated in the second half as UNK went cold. Kearney had just a couple of field goals by the 10-minute mark with UCO eventually grabbing a 58-51 lead.

"I think a couple of things happened. We got great mileage out of our zone in the first half and we made some shots. Guys were focused and we were having some success," UNK head coach Kevin Lofton said on the KRVN radio post-game show. "In the second half they came alive on the offensive boards big time … they kind of man handled us. And their shooters woke up and we just couldn't hit the shots we were getting."

UCO out shot UNK by a 52-30 percent margin after the break. With each team playing a lot of zone throughout the game there were plenty of long range bombs. The Lopers were 5 of 23 from behind the arc in the second half with the 'Chos 5 of 14. The 35 overall three point attempts by UNK are tied for fifth most in school history and five shy of tying the record.

"We were getting decent looks against their zone … at times we got it inside and were able to attack them there. But, at a certain point if a team is sitting in a zone, somebody somewhere has to hit the open looks," Lofton said. "They did and we weren't able to."

Junior wing Camryn Givens (15), junior guard Callen Haydon (13) and Washington State transfer Isaiah Wade (10) scored in double figures for UCO. Givens also had six boards, Haydon went 5 of 8 from the field with Wade having a team-best seven boards before leaving late due to injury.

UCO had 17 second chance points via 12 offensive rebounds while also getting 38 points off its bench. UNK was 15 of 26 from inside the arc with eight different players scoring.

Luger grabbed 11 rebounds (four offensive), making this his second straight and third career double double. He went 7 of 15 (3 of 7 threes) from the field and 1 of 1 at the line. Next, Utah senior guard Jake Walker carried in the offense in the second half and ended up with 17 thanks to three treys and four freebies. Finally, Wahoo sophomore reserve forward Winston Cook had eight points, four rebounds and an assist in 18 minutes of work.

"It's not like you're going to be perfect … everybody makes mistakes. But we've got to stop making the same ones over and over," Lofton said. "We can grow from these two games and we're going to have to. We have to defend our home court going into the Christmas break. The only way we'll get those done at home is if we learn our lessons and I think our team we'll do that."

The Lopers host Rogers State (Friday) and Northeastern State (Sunday) next week.
 
 
 
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