by By Chris Bannick
EMPORIA, Kan. – No. 12 Central Oklahoma used a gutsy performance to turn back Emporia State Saturday afternoon in an MIAA showdown at White Auditorium.
Central Oklahoma 94, Emporia State 86.
The Bronchos improved to 13-3 on the season with win and 5-3 in the MIAA.
“The guys were unbelievable today,” UCO head men’s coach Bob Hoffman said. “We were shorthanded, and we needed guys to step up and they did. As a coach, you love it when the team comes together for a win like that. That was big for us. We needed it.”
Three Bronchos scored 20 on Saturday.
Danquez Dawsey led the way, scoring 23 points to go with 11 assists. The junior point guard was 7-for-15 from the floor, 5-for-7 from behind the 3-point line, and 4-for-4 from the free-throw line. Dawsey also had two rebounds and he fouled out with two and a half minutes left in the game.
Jaden Wells added 22 points on 7 of 12 shooting. He went 2-for-4 behind the arc and 6-for-6 at the line. Wells added three rebounds and three assists.
Mike Quick Jr. came off the bench with a big 20 points and added six rebounds and two steals. The sophomore guard hit 4 of 10 shots, 2 of 5 from outside, and went 10-for-11 from the free-throw line to lead the Bronchos.
UCO had a season best, and nearly an all-time best, 95.8 percent day at the free-throw line. The Bronchos made 23 of 24 attempts at the stripe.
Luke Haasl joined the three 20-point scores in double figures. He posted 14 points, five rebounds, three assists and two blocked shots. Haasl went 7-for-10 from the floor.
Majok Majouk, who made his first start of the season in place of the injured Preston Aymond, and played a career-high 33 minutes, scored eight points to go with seven rebounds, two steals, one block and one assist.
Jalyn Turner added four points and Matthew Willenborg three to round out the scoring for the Bronchos.
Saturday, there were nine ties in the game and four lead changes, but the last lead for the host Hornets was 33-31 in the first half. The last time the game was tied was 39-39. UCO went to the locker room at halftime leading 44-43.
In the second half, the Bronchos ballooned their lead to 13 points, 67-54, with 11:18 to play. Emporia made a run after that and the game got down to two points on three different occasions down the stretch. But Central Oklahoma held firm and never let Emporia get closer than that before pulling away in the end for the victory.
