SAN ANTONIO, Texas- The Rogers State men's basketball team finished the 2013 calendar year with a 77-73 road victory over Heartland Conference foe St. Mary's at the Bill Greehey Arena on Saturday afternoon.
The Hillcats handed the Rattlers (8-2, 1-1) their first conference loss of the season and snapped their eight-game winning streak. Robinson Odoch Opong led the charge for the Hillcats, pouring in 22 points with six 3-pointers on the night.
The Hillcats never trailed in the second stanza, clinging to a single digit lead for most of the half. With two minutes to play in the game, the Rattlers cut the RSU advantage to three points with a layup by Justin Alexander. Opong had an answer on the other end of the court as the Hillcats ran the shot clock down and Jeylyn Sharpe kicked the ball out to the senior from Quebec City, Quebec who buried a trey from the left elbow as the shot clock expired to push the Hillcat lead to two possessions. RSU pushed the lead to eight points with 21 seconds to play but the Rattlers battled to the finish, cutting the deficit to five points with a trey by Kameron Pearce from the corner with 15 seconds to play. J.C. Hartzler converted a pair of free throws to push the advantage to seven points with 10 seconds remaining in the game. Pearce tallied a three pointer with three seconds left in the contest but the Rattlers ran out of time as the Hillcats held on for the win.
The opening frame was a back and forth battle with the score tied eight times and the lead changing on seven occasions. Opong hit a 3-pointer with 1:24 to play in the half to tie the game for the eighth time but Alexander gave StMU a one point lead with a made free throw. The Rattlers got a stop with 24 second to play in the half and it seems as if StMU would have the final shot of the frame but Damien Hooks swiped a steal and Opong buried a 3-pointer to give RSU a 37-35 advantage at intermission.
Hooks tallied 20 points in the contest and Deran Banton rounded out the double digit scorers with 12 points. RSU shot 45 percent from the field, 43 percent from long distance and 78 percent from the charity stripe.
Alexander and Ryan Thomas led the Rattlers with 12 points each while Marvin Whitt rounded out the double digit scorers for StMU with 10 points. The Rattlers shot 46 percent from the field, 23 percent from long distance and 45 percent from the charity stripe.
Rogers State (7-4, 2-1) returns to Heartland Conference action on January 2 as the Hillcats host Dallas Baptist at 3 p.m. inside the Claremore Expo. The game will be streamed live on the Hillcat Network at www.rsuhillcats.com/live and on RSU Radio 91.3 FM.
