CLAREMORE, Okla. – The Rogers State men's basketball team rallied from a 20-point first-half deficit to win, 84-74, over Oklahoma Christian on Thursday at the Claremore Expo Center to stay in the hunt for the Heartland Conference championship.
 
The Cardiac Cats trailed by 20 points at 47-27 with 1:27 left in the first half as the visiting Eagles hit nine first-half threes. However, RSU outscored OC, 53-27, in the second half to get win No. 20 on the season by the score of 84-74.
 
OC started the game soaring to a 10-0 advantage in the first three and a half minutes of the game. The spurt included two triples.
 
Down by the score of 19-9, RSU used a 5-0 run to cut the deficit in half with all points coming from the bench. Jordan Huffman scored on a layup at the 12:50 mark, and Chase Littlejohn pulled up from the top of the key for a triple to make it 19-14 with 12:14 left in the half.
 
The Eagles gained a 15-point margin at 34-19 with a 15-5 run over the next five minutes. Elijah Strickland knocked down a three for the 34-19 score with 7:04 remaining.
 
Holding a 35-26 advantage, OC went on a 12-1 spurt with all 12 points coming on the long ball. Daniel Eibel hit the first two three-pointers, and Jordan Rutherford closed the run with back-to-back threes for a 47-27 score with 1:27 left in the half, the largest lead of the game for the Eagles.
 
The Hillcats gained some momentum before halftime with four straight points to end the period, all coming from point guard Donald Moore. RSU trailed, 47-31, at halftime.
 
In the first half, OC shot 9-12 from three and 61.5 percent (16-26) from the field. The Cats were cold shooting 39.3 percent (11-28) and 20 percent (3-15) from three.
 
The Cardiac Cats erased the 16-point halftime deficit in less than six minutes. J.C. Hartzler started with a three in the first possession of the second half. Robert Johnson and Jeylyn Sharpe scored inside, and then Moore hit from deep for a 51-41 score. Hartzler scored the next four points to cut the deficit to 55-45 with 16:11 remaining.
 
RSU go it rolling with a 10-0 run in less than two minutes. Johnson hit a layup to start the run, and Corey Ayala used a three-point play to make it 55-50. Hartzler continued to hit from three to pull the Cats to within two at 55-53. The Hillcats evened the score at 55-55 on a layup by Moore with 14:24 left.
 
With the score tied at 63-63, RSU took its first lead of the game after a steal and long outlet pass from Ayala led to a Huffman layup and a foul. Huffman completed the three-point play for a 66-63 edge with 7:04 remaining.
 
After OC regained the lead, 67-66, the Hillcats went in front for good with a Moore triple at the 5:38 mark. Hartzler upped the advantage to 72-67 with his fifth trey of the game with 5:05 left. Johnson scored two late baskets to increase the margin to 78-70 and Moore gave RSU a double digit lead with a driving layup for an 80-70 edge with 1:13 remaining. The Cats went on to win, 84-74, with late free throws from Moore and Hartzler.
 
In the second half, RSU shot 66.7 percent (18-27) and 63.6 percent (7-11) from three.
 
Hartzler finished with a game-high 27 points going 5-for-9 shooting from three. Moore added 23 points, and Johnson tallied 10 points.
 
The Hillcats (20-5, 12-5 HC) reached 20 wins for the eighth time in nine seasons. RSU welcomes Newman on Saturday for Senior Day. Tipoff is set for 3 p.m. inside the Claremore Expo Center. Coverage is available on the Hillcat Network at www.rsuhillcats.com/live.