Story by UNK Athletic Communications
The 11th-ranked Central Oklahoma Bronchos got big efforts from Division I transfer Curtis Haywood II and junior guard Jaden Wells to pull away from Nebraska Kearney, 62-53, Sunday evening at the Health & Sports Center.
The Bronchos (10-1, 5-1) are now 19-5 all-time against the Lopers (2-9, 0-5). The two meet again on February 2nd in Edmond.
UNK previously fell at then-No. 7 Minnesota Duluth, 78-72, and at No. 1 Northwest Missouri, 84-74, last Saturday. Behind 11 of 28 three-point shooting and a strong effort from super senior forward Darrian Nebeker (West Jordan, Utah), the Lopers again hung with the nation's best.
"The biggest thing tonight was they kind of came alive from the three-point line. Our plan was pretty simple … you can't run them off the three-point line and expect to protect the paint at the same time," said UNK head coach Kevin Lofton. "If you protect the paint, which we chose to do, there are going to be times where they'll get a look or two that could hurt you. We were going to live with that and for the most part it held up but there was stretch in the second half where they got hot."
Both teams held a five-point lead in the first half with UNK ahead 17-13 and ready to grab a live ball turnover at the 5:48 mark. However, the ball instead remained with UCO who hit a wide-open corner three to kick start a half closing 13-4 run. The stretch included two more 'Chos threes with UNK missing its last four shots.
The Lopers went 8 of 17 from behind the arc in the second half but never regained the lead as UCO grabbed eight offensive rebounds and hit four of their own triples. One key jumper just inside the arc came from Haywood II who previously played at Georgia Tech and Tulsa. The 6-5 guard buried an off balance 20-footer right before the shot clock expired to make it 45-34 with 11:20 to play. UNK didn't get the deficit under seven the rest of the night.
"If you start scrambling around, trying to run them off and getting to spread out, now they are finding driving lanes and it's a dunk contest," said Lofton. "We had some guys that showed some signs and did good things but they are legitimately the second best, or the best, team in our league right now."
UCO doubled up UNK in paint points, 20-10, and also had a 15-5 advantage in points off turnovers. Next, the 'Chos went 11 of 15 at the line with the Lopers attempting only four freebies. Finally, UCO (21 of 51) and UNK (20 for 50) were almost identical from the field.
Haywood II got close to a triple double (15 points, eight assists, seven rebounds) and added three blooks to boot with Wells at a game-high 24 points. He made 7 of 14 shots (4 of 8 threes) and went 6 of 6 at the line. The 'Chos also got seven boards and two dunks from 6-10 sophomore reserve post Luke Haasl.
For UNK, Nebeker got close to a triple double (16 points, six assists, six rebounds) as he made 7 of 15 (2 of 6 threes) shots. Fellow starter Sean Evans (Parker, Colo.) tallied 11 thanks to three treys with reserves Winston Cook (Wahoo), Matt Brien (New Zealand) and Tom Connelly (Denver) combining for 16 points and eight rebounds off the bench
"A lot of times this semester, Darrian has been hot but not Ryder (Kirsch). Or Ryder's been on and not Darrian," said Lofton. "We've found a solution at the point guard with Jamison (Gruber). He's doing a solid job for us and getting better. Every once in a while he makes a freshman mistake but it's about us getting all the parts clicking together at the same time. Hopefully, we can do that coming off Christmas break."
UNK is now off until December 28th with its next games set for the 31st (at Lincoln) and January 2nd (at Central Missouri).
"We have a good player (Jaleque Dunson) coming eligible at semester and we're hoping we can integrate him pretty quickly and start to see the rotation click," said Lofton. "Our guys know they can play with some really good teams. We just got to get over the hump."