CLAREMORE, Okla. - The Rogers State men's basketball team fell short on Saturday evening as the East Central Tigers tallied an 82-79 victory at the Claremore Expo.
With six minutes to play in the contest the Hillcats trailed by 10 points but used an 8-0 run, capped by a conventional three-point play by J.C. Hartzler, to cut the deficit to two points. RSU tied the contest with a layup by Deran Banton but ECU answered with consecutive buckets to take a four-point lead. With a minute and a half to play, RSU cut the ECU lead to one point with a Damien Hooks free throw shot. The Tigers answered with back-to-back buckets to stretch their advantage to four points with 40 seconds to play but Robinson Odoch Opong drained a 3-pointer to put the Cats within one point. RSU trailed by one point with four seconds remaining but couldn't get the go-ahead bucket as ECU's Brandon Lucas gave the Tigers some breathing room with a layup with a second remaining on the clock.
The Hillcats struggled to find a rhythm in the contest trailing by as many as 15 points in the first 11 minutes of the second half. Things started to click for the Hillcats in the closing minutes of the game as RSU outscored the Tigers 28-17 over the final eight and a half minutes but couldn't find a way to take the lead.
RSU tallied the first points of the game with a pair of made free throws by Robinson Opong but ECU followed with an 8-0 run and clung to a single digit lead the rest of the opening stanza, taking a 46-37 lead into the locker room at intermission.
Four Hillcats finished with double digit scoring with Hooks leading the way with 20 points and eight rebounds. Opong tallied 19 points, Hartzler finished with 18 points and Banton rounded out the group with 12 points.
Henry Pwono led the Tigers with 28 points. The Hillcats won the battle on the boards 42-27.
Rogers State (6-3) returns to action on December 19 as the Hillcat head to Laredo, Texas to take on Texas A&M International in a Heartland Conference matchup at 7:30 p.m. Live audio of the contest will be streamed on the Hillcat Network at www.rsuhillcats.com/live and on RSU Radio 91.3 FM.
