Fields’s block seals Western win over UCO
By Jacob Meikel
Missouri Western men’s basketball extended their win streak to six after a gutsy 57-56 victory over Central Oklahoma on Saturday.
In a game that saw 10 lead changes, the Griffons used the final 10 minutes to prove their resiliency. Faced with an eight-point deficit with 9:31 left to play, Western was able to string together an 11-0 run in a span of just over six minutes before the Bronchos were able to stop the bleeding with a Danquez Dawsey layup with 2:47 remaining in the second half. With the score 50-53 and Western in front with 2:47 to play both teams continued to trade punches down the stretch until the very end.
With just over six seconds left to play, the Griffons held the lead at 57-56 with junior Taye Fields at the free throw line for a one-and-one. Fields would miss the front end of the one-and-one, and the Bronchos rebounded and found their leading scorer on the night in Jaden Wells. Wells had 24 points on the evening and had his number called to take the final shot. Wells was being guarded initially by junior guard Zion Swader before being switched on by Fields, Fields didn’t allow much space to Wells as he was trying to get off a final shot and the result was a game-sealing block by Fields.
“It was huge, but as y’all know, Taye makes big plays all the time,” Swader said. “He’s the only person in the conference averaging a double-double, so we know he’s gonna come through for us any time in the game.”
Senior JaRon Thames once again led the Griffon men in scoring on the evening with 18 points and spearheaded the team’s run towards the end of the game to regain the lead and eventually clinch the victory. Thames said after the game that the Griffons knew the game wasn’t going to be easy going into it.
“They’re a really good team, so we just had to stay composed… play hard and that’s the results we got,” Thames said.
Western has the longest active win streak in the MIAA at six games. They are also just behind Northwest Missouri State at second in the MIAA men’s basketball standings. Head coach Will Martin after the game offered a grounding statement about his team as they know they’re just past the midway point in the regular season and have plenty of basketball left to play.
“I say this humbly, but we have by no measure exceeded our expectation,” Martin said.
Western went 3-0 in their latest homestand by winning on Saturday, but will hit the road its next two games for trips to Lincoln on Wednesday and Central Missouri on Saturday.
