After losing a late lead in regulation and then again in the first overtime, Central Oklahoma finally held on in the second overtime to beat West Texas A&M 66-63 in Saturday’s semifinals.

      The Buffaloes had hit two straight shots in the final seconds to force extra frames, but Lionel Foster’s 3-pointer clanged off the rim as the buzzer sounded of the second overtimes, preserving UCO’s hard-fought victory. 

      The win advances the Bronchos to the LSC Championship final game Sunday against the winner of Midwestern State/Tarleton State.

      UCO improves to 27-3, keeping them alive for a possible No. 1 seed in next week’s regional. West Texas A&M drops to 23-6 overall, but the Buffaloes will advance to next week’s regional as well.

      UCO forward Dauntae Williams, the LSC North Player of the Year, paced the Bronchos with 21 points and seven rebounds and four steals. Tyler Phillips also added 13, while Brent Friday scored 11 and Victor Driver chipped in with 10.

      For the Buffaloes, Jacquiese Holcombe played 44 minutes and scored a team-high 19 points and 10 rebounds. Foster scored 11 and LaDarius Hall added 10.

      The Buffaloes out-rebounded UCO 53-29 but what hurt WT was 23 turnovers and just 3 of 21 shooting from 3-point land.

      In the second overtime, UCO jumped out to a four-point lead, thanks to jumpers by Driver and Williams. But missed free throws gave the Buffaloes another chance to come back.

      Only this time, WT’s rally fell just short.

      At the end of regulation, UCO led 54-47 with 2:57 to play but watched the Buffs score the final seven points, including Holcombe’s driving layup with eight seconds to play. Williams missed a running jumper that sent the game to overtime.

      In the first OT, UCO went up by four with 2:30 to play on Friday’s layup. But in the final minute, Williams missed a free throw that kept UCO up by two and WT’s Joe Mincey hit a short jumper with one second remaining to force another overtime.

      But UCO proved to be good enough once again. The Bronchos are now 12-4 in overtime games under head coach Terry Evans, including five straight wins in OT.

* It was the first overtime game of the season for UCO, which won its fifth straight overtime game dating back to a 73-70 OT loss to Tarleton State during the 2007-08 season.

* The Bronchos improved to 12-4 in overtime games under ninth-year head coach Terry Evans.

* UCO improved to 27-3, needing a win in Sunday's finals to equal the most wins in school history.  The Bronchos went 28-6 in 2007-08, winning the LSC North Division, LSC Tournament and South Central Regional titles.

* The Bronchos ended a five-game LSC Tournament losing streak to West Texas and beat the Buffs for just the second time in nine tries in the league tournament.  UCO's only previous LSC Tournament win over WT was 123-101 in the 1998 finals.

* UCO is now 20-14 in its 15th LSC Tournament appearance.  The Bronchos are in the finals for the eighth time, winning titles in 1995, '97, '98 and '08 while finishing as runner-up in 1991, '92 and '96.

* The Bronchos made four 3-pointers, extending their streak with at least one 3-pointer to 702 consecutive games dating back to Jan. 28, 1987.

* Dauntae Williams finished with 21 points, the 18th time in 29 games he's gone over the 20-point mark.   The senior guard moved into 10th place on UCO's single-season scoring list with 616 points.

* Williams also moved into fifth place in single-season steals with 72, coming up with four thefts against WTAMU.

* The Buffs' double-overtime loss on Saturday in the LSC Championship semifinals snapped their four-game winning streak.

* Including Saturday's double-overtime contest against Central Oklahoma, the Buffs have now played four overtime games in the 2010-11 season and are 3-1 in those games.  WT beat Newman (83-68 on Nov. 13 in Bartlesville, Okla.), Cameron (75-67 on Dec. 2 in Canyon), and Southwestern Oklahoma State (79-68 on Dec. 4 in Canyon) before losing Saturday to the Buffs.

* Saturday’s loss to Central Oklahoma marks just the second for the Buffs in nine all-time meetings in the LSC post-Season Tournament dating back to the 1990 Tournament.  Here are the scores of each of those nine games:

   1990 (sf) – West Texas A&M 94, Central Oklahoma 86

   1991 (f) – West Texas A&M 83, Central Oklahoma 70

   1998 (f) – Central Oklahoma 123, West Texas A&M 101

   1999 (qf) – West Texas A&M 92, Central Oklahoma 91

   2001 (qf) – West Texas A&M 87, Central Oklahoma 79

   2003 (qf) – West Texas A&M 88, Central Oklahoma 84

   2005 (qf) – West Texas A&M 79, Central Oklahoma 67

   2010 (qf) – West Texas A&M 80, Central Oklahoma 79

   2011 (sf) – Central Oklahoma 66, Wes Texas A&M 63, 2 ot