EDMOND, Okla. (Nov. 29, 2018) – You can't defend free throws, and Central Oklahoma took advantage of that basic fact of basketball on Thursday night.

The Bronchos made an impressive 29 of 35 attempts from the line to hold off OC 82-72 at Hamilton Field House in the annual meeting between the rivals.

Adarius Avery – who played for the Loyola team that reached the NCAA Division I Final Four last season – had 32 points and 11 rebounds for UCO (5-2). That helped offset a pair of double-doubles by OC's Roderick Smith (13 points, 15 rebounds) and Will Lienhard (13 points, 11 rebounds, five blocked shots) and what was nearly a third by Brian Carey (19 points, eight rebounds).

OC (3-3) had more field goals than did the Bronchos and outrebounded UCO 47-40, but the Eagles shot just 14 of 21 from the free-throw line (66.7 percent).

"We fouled too much," OC coach Cory Cole said. "It's what we talked about in practice. It's our Achilles' heel. We don't move our feet. You can't put in in the officials' hands. You have to play good, fundamental defense for an entire possession and it cost us tonight."

UCO (5-2) looked like it might run away early, jumping to a 22-10 lead by the 11:54 mark of the first half. But OC patiently cut into that gap, pulling as close as two points before trailing only 35-32 at halftime.

The Eagles took their first lead since the opening minutes when Smith scored from underneath to make it 39-37, but OC failed to build on its margin while UCO went more than 5½ minutes without a field goal. That proved costly.

Avery scored the next 11 points for the Bronchos and his two free throws with 11:49 left broke a 46-46 tie and started a 9-0 run for UCO. The Bronchos eventually restored their lead to double digits at 66-56 on two free throws by Avery with 5:27 left.

The Eagles had one more rally in them. Down 71-62, Lienhard – who leads Division II in rebounds per game – scored on a tip-in and Carey followed with a 3-pointer to pull the Eagles within four points with 1:39 left. UCO responded by scoring the next six points and going 6 of 6 from the free-throw line in the final 24.3 seconds to seal the win.

Avery hit 14 of 16 free throws for UCO and added four assists.

"This felt like a conference game," Cole said. "It's two good programs. It was good to see guys playing good in back-to-back games, but the mental part is something we've got to work on. We've got to execute when it matters. We did good in rebounding and had a lot of guys with balanced scoring, but the mental mistakes that don't show up (in the stats) that put us in bad situations."

 Freshman D.J. Walter and Jordan Box each scored 10 points for OC. Josh Holliday had 15 points (including 8 of 9 from the line), Marquis Johnson 14 and Ashford Golden 11 for the Bronchos.

OC will open Heartland Conference play on the road Saturday at Newman (Kan.). Tipoff will be at 3 p.m.