Published: March 07, 2008 01:05 am      

UCO men breeze past Rams

BARTLESVILLE, Okla. – Sam Belt scored 33 points and Eric Cazenave added 19 as Central Oklahoma survived a late 3-point barrage to get past Angelo State 85-75 in the first round of the Lone Star Conference Men’s Basketball Championship at Bruin Field House late Thursday night.

The North Division champion Bronchos improved to 23-5 – tied for the third-most wins in school history – with their fourth straight victory and advanced to Friday’s 8:30 p.m. semifinals against No. 21-ranked Tarleton State.

“I thought it was a good game for us,” UCO coach Terry Evans said. “I was really pleased with the way our guys defender and thought we did a good job of making them earn their points.”

Belt was 8-of-15 from the field and set career highs in free throws made (15) and attempted (18) in his 33-point outing that was the third-highest game in UCO’s LSC Tournament history. He added six rebounds and a pair of steals.

Cazenave came off the bench to hit 7-of-11 shots with three 3-pointers in finishing with 19 points, three assists and three steals. The Bronchos also got 10 points and seven rebounds from Lance Harper and Michael Sosanya had nine points.