Despite Adarius Fulton tying a career high with 23 points the Missouri Western men struggled slowing down the Central Oklahoma Bronchos falling 92-75. The Griffons have lost two straight falling to 6-5 overall and 1-2 in MIAA play.
The Griffons struggled early against Central Oklahoma getting down 16-5 before they went on a 9-0 run cutting the UCO lead to 16-14 after a layup by Cortrez Colbert with 11:52 to play in the half. Unfortunately that would be the closes the Griffons would get. They got outscored 33-16 the rest of the half to go into the locker room down 49-30.
The Griffons got outscored 24-10 in the paint and 11-2 in second chance points in the first half. The Bronchos also had seven points off five first half turnovers by MWSU. Fulton and Ryan Devers led the Griffons with nine points while Charlie Marquardt and Devers each had three rebounds. The Griffons made just 10-of-30 shots but did make 4-of-9 three pointers.
The Bronchos were led by Josh Gibbs and Philip Brown with 11 and 10 points respectively while Gibbs also had eight rebounds. The Bronchos outrebounded the Griffons 25 to 13 in the first half.
Midway through to the second half UCO built its lead to as many as 22. The Griffons showed some grit going on a 12-1 run cutting the Broncho lead to 72-61 with 7:57 to play after a Fulton three. The Griffons would run out of gas down the stretch falling to 0-3 in road games this season.
UCO improved to 8-3 on the season and 2-2 in MIAA play. They had four players score in double figures with Brown leading the way with 25 points. Brown and Gibbs both had double doubles with Brown collecting 10 rebounds and Gibbs scoring 17 points and snaring 14 rebounds.
The Griffons shot just 35.8-percent (24-67) from the field but did make 16-of-19 free throws. Devers and Dzenan Mrkaljevic finished with 15 and 10 points respectively while Cortrez Colbert and Devers dished out five and four assists respectively.
The Bronchos dominated the points in the paint scoring 46 to the Griffons 22 and had 18 second chance points to MWSU’s six.
The Griffons return to action over the holiday break on Saturday, January 4 with an afternoon contest against the Washburn Ichabods. Game time is set for 3:30 pm in the MWSU Fieldhouse.
— MWSU Sports Information —