BETHANY, Okla. - Senior Lance Sullivan put the Rogers State men's basketball team on his back and carried them to a 68-57 victory over No. 16 Oklahoma City University late Thursday night with a spectacular second half effort.
 

The Columbus, Ohio, native poured in 19 second-half points to propel the Hillcats to the semifinal round of the Sooner Athletic Conference basketball tournament in Bethany, Okla. RSU built a double digit lead early in the contest before OCU crawled its way back and eventually grabbed a one point lead with 13:45 remaining in the game.
 

Chris Francis put the Cats back in front with a transition layup and then Sullivan went to work. The Langston transfer picked up a steal and pulled up for a three to stretch the lead back to eight, then added another pull-up trey 20 seconds later. Sullivan poured in nine straight points for RSU over a two minute stretch and the Hillcats led 50-39 with 8:45 remaining.
 

Sylvester Spicer and Deveric Taylor piled on with a pair of tough buckets inside and the lead peaked at 16 with 6:10 left to play. RSU managed to keep the Stars at a safe distance the rest of the night. Fittingly, Sullivan closed out the scoring with a floater in the lane in the closing seconds. The Cats shot 52 percent in the second half behind Sullivan's 6 for 10 effort.
 

RSU showcased its tenacity on defense from the opening tip. Coach Lloyd Williams' squad shutout OCU for the first 7:40 of the game and opened up an 11-0 lead to start the contest. Reggie Burnett enjoyed a big first half with 11 points on 5 of 5 shooting. He picked up a steal and finished with a monster jam to put RSU on top 22-8 with 4:33 remaining in the first half. OCU closed the period on an 11-2 to cut the margin to five at the break.
 

Chris Brown got off to a hot start in the second half for the Stars and put OCU in front for a brief stint with seven quick points. Brown finished with a game-high 21 points. However, it was Sullivan who had the final say.  Sylvester Spicer chipped with 18 points while Burnett finished with 14. The Hillcats committed just nine turnovers on the night while handing out seven assists.
 

Rogers State (21-10) will face tournament host and No. 2 seed Southern Nazarene in the semifinals Friday evening. Tip-off is set for 8 p.m. on the SNU campus in Bethany and the game will be carried live on RSU Radio 91.3 FM.