CLAREMORE, Okla. - As 1,044 fans were on hand at the Claremore Expo to show their appreciation for six Rogers State seniors Thursday night, the Hillcat seniors returned the favor by upsetting No. 12 Southern Nazarene 73-60.
RSU trailed the Crimson Storm by eight points at intermission and SNU stretched the lead to ten points in the first minute of the second stanza. But the Hillcats responded off a pair of five point spurts by seniors Matt Kellogg and John Boyd as RSU tied SNU at 33-33 just three minutes following halftime. Boyd, a Wagoner, Okla. native, put the Hillcats on his back scoring 11 points over three minutes and giving Coach Justin Barkley's squad the 39-37 lead with 14:53 to go.
The Cats slowly built a ten point lead over the next seven minutes. A Chris Francis layup off of a Crimson Storm turnover built the Hillcat lead to 64-48 with 5:22 left in the final period. A Boyd block of a C.J. Henry jumper spurred the Hillcats to their largest lead at 17, off a pair of Maurice Rutherford free throws with 3:24 remaining. From there RSU ran the clock out and allowed the Storm to trim the score to its final mark of 73-60.
On the night when the lyrics to the RSU fight song were announced, the first half could be referred to as a sad verse for RSU as Southern Nazarene jumped out to a nine point lead in the opening eight minutes. A Henry layup with just over eight minutes remaining in the first half built the SNU lead to its largest of the game at 26-12. The Cats were able to trim the count to a Storm advantage of 31-23 at the half.
Boyd led all scorers with 26 points pulling in six rebounds, four steals and blocking two shots. Taylor dropped in 14 points while Kellogg added 12 points as all three celebrated Senior Night. Fellow senior Chris Francis finished the night with six points shooting 2-of-2 from the field. First-year Hillcats Alburey Doss and Brandon Mims got the start for senior night and put in a combined effort of 22 minutes with five points and four boards.
The Hillcats registered 17 steals forcing SNU into 24 turnovers while RSU turned it over only 12 times. Barkley's team was excellent from the charity stripe once again knocking down 74 percent and hitting 4-of-6 from behind the arc for the second half.
Southern Nazarene (21-6, 14-5) was led in the scoring column by C.J. Henry with 13 points. Daniel White added 12 while Jon West rounded out the double-figure scorers with 11. The Crimson Storm was off the mark shooting only 18 percent from behind the arc, while knocking down only 59 percent from the free throw line.
Rogers State (16-9, 12-6) will hit the highway to Chickasha, Okla. to face the Drovers of USAO on Saturday, Feb. 19. Tip-time is set for 8 p.m. and the game will be broadcast on RSU Radio 91.3FM.
