BARTLESVILLE, Okla. – Sam Belt was the best player in the Lone Star Conference in the regular season. Central Oklahoma was the best team, winning their respective division.
Nothing changed in the Lone Star Conference Tournament, as Belt scored 25 points to lead UCO to a 72-70 win over Texas A&M-Commerce in Saturday night’s championship game held at Bruin Field House.
“We believed that we were going to win,” said Lions coach Sam Walker. “I was proud of the way we fought the entire game. We just came up a bit short in the end, but I give all of the credit to UCO.”
The Bronchos outlasted the Lions down the stretch, hitting key free throws and clutch baskets to win a game that had 11 ties and 15 lead changes.
Belt was named the LSC Tournament’s Most Valuable Player, scoring 33, 26 and 25 points in the three games. He grabbed 14 rebounds and dished out five assists to lead the Bronchos to their fourth LSC Tournament title, but first since 1998.
John Neal added 16 points for UCO while Lance Harper scored eight and earned a selection on the LSC all-tournament team.
The Lions had two representatives on the all-tournament team in Scooby Johnson, who had a team-high 21 points and Kevin Widemond, who scored 17.
“I had a good year,” said Johnson. “We had a good year. We fought hard, but we just fell short.”
UCO tied a school-record with its 25th victory, improving to 25-5 and destined for one of the top seeds in next week’s South Central Regional Tournament.
The Bronchos were headed to the regional tournament regardless of the outcome but A&M-Commerce had to win to keep its season alive. The Lions fall to 14-16 but winning the conference tournament would’ve been an automatic bid in the regional tournament.
A&M-Commerce, the fourth-seed in the LSC North, began its tournament run on Wednesday by upsetting West Texas A&M, the No. 1 seed in the South before outlasting Abilene Christian Friday night.
But the Lions’ run came to an end against the Bronchos, who have now won six straight games and 16 of the last 17 games.
None of the games in this current winning streak have been closer than Saturday night.
Leading by just one at halftime, UCO and A&M-Commerce went back and forth in the second half. The Bronchos grabbed a 55-49 lead with 9:58 to play.
Just when it looked as if Commerce would run out of gas, the Lions came roaring back, led by Lance Jackson, who scored six points in an 8-0 run that gave A&M-Commerce the lead with 6:33 remaining.
A three-point play by Johnson with 4:53 to go gave the Lions a three-point lead but Belt quickly answered with his own 3-pointer.
The Lions answered with a 3-pointner by Leonard Bishop, but after two free throws by Harper, Eric Cazenave gave the Bronchos the lead with a 3-pointer from the right corner.
Neal added a layup and two free throws to push the lead to five with 24 seconds left, but turned the ball over after a Johnson layup, giving A&M-Commerce another possession, trailing by three with 11 seconds on the clock.
But the inbounds pass was thrown away, the 19th turnover of the game for A&M-Commerce.
David Thomas hit a free throw for UCO and Widemond’s layup with two seconds wasn’t enough, preserving the win for the Bronchos, who edged A&M-Commerce by just one point, 84-83 back on Jan. 16.
By winning the tournament MVP, it was just another honor for Belt, who was named the LSC North Player of the Year and a first-team All-LSC selection. He moved into second place in UCO scoring history with 1,862 points.
Lions down ACU
BARTLESVILLE, Okla. – Kevin Widemond hit a critical 3-point basket down the stretch and then nailed two free throws in the final seconds to lead Texas A&M-Commerce to another upset win in the Lone Star Conference Tournament after a 70-65 win over Abilene Christian in the semifinals Friday night at Bruin Field House.
The Lions (14-15), the fourth-seed from the North Division, previously upset the No. 1 seed West Texas A&M in Wednesday’s quarterfinal round.
While Widemond scored 14 points, dished out nine assists and made clutch shots in the end, the Lions were led by Scooby Johnson, who scored 19 points despite battling a rib injury that even forced him to the locker room at one point in the first half.
Lance Jackson also came off the bench to score 12, while Derrick Darkis scored eight points, but none bigger than a 3-pointer with 1:05 remaining in the game and the shot clock down to two seconds, which gave the Lions a five-point advantage.
“It’s indescribable,” said Darkis. “My coach has had faith in me the whole season and my team has had faith in me to knock down big shots. So I was just relaxed, I thought that if I missed it we would get the offensive rebound.”
Abilene Christian falls to 20-9 and now must hold out hope for a spot in the regional tournament.
But the Wildcats, despite four players in double figures, couldn’t make enough shots in the final three minutes, missing 11 of their last 12 field goal attempts in the final four minutes.
Cameron Holson led the Wildcats with 15 points and seven rebounds, while Dejan Sencanski scored 14. Point guard Corwin Ragland, who had only been held under double-figures in scoring four times this season, had just four points, the fewest against any LSC opponent this season.
A&M-C upsets West Texas
BARTLESVILLE, Okla. – In a battle of the conference’s two Newcomers of the Year, it was Texas A&M-Commerce senior Scooby Johnson leading the Lions to a 69-63 upset over top-seed West Texas A&M Wednesday in the LSC Tournament quarterfinals at Bruin Fieldhouse.
Johnson scored 19 points and hauled in eight rebounds, coupled with 19 points and nine rebounds from Kevin Widemond as the Lions (13-15) became just the second LSC team to defeat West Texas A&M this season.
The Buffaloes, who went 11-1 in the LSC regular season to earn the No. 1 seed in the South Division, received 24 points from senior guard Robert Lee, who was named the LSC South Player of the Year and Newcomer of the Year in this week’s awards banquet at Bartlesville.
Johnson, a senior transfer from Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, was a first-team All-LSC selection this season, averaging 20.8 points per game. Johnson nearly hit his average on Wednesday, but made enough tough baskets in the second half to lead the Lions to the upset.
A&M-Commerce also lost its only regular-season meeting this year with West Texas A&M (72-65) back in November, along with a last-second defeat in last year’s LSC tournament.
But the Lions were able to avenge both losses on Wednesday with clutch inside scoring down the stretch.
After Lee pulled West Texas to within two at 63-61 with 1:51 to play, Johnson answered with a short jumper, pushing the Lions’ lead back to four. A layup by West Texas guard Pierre Barlow trimmed the lead back to two, but a pair of free throws by Lions guard Derrick Darkus with 20 seconds remaining gave Commerce a four-point edge. After a steal, Widemond tipped in a final basket for a six-point win.
To comment on this story, visit www.theeasttexan.com