By Nick Eatman

In four years, he's seen three teammates earn first-team All-LSC honors and has played with the last two North Division Players of the Year.

            Yet, Central Oklahoma's Eric Cazenave is carving out a niche of his own, especially in the clutch. Just ask Tarleton State.

            Cazenave, a fourth-year junior forward who has thrived as a role player for the Bronchos, has managed to save some of his best performances against the Texans. That trend continued at the Lone Star Conference basketball championships in Bartlesville, where Cazenave not only led his team in scoring, but provided some big plays off the ball in the final minute to secure UCO's quarterfinal win over Tarleton.

            With the Bronchos facing elimination and trailing the Texans by a point in overtime Thursday, Cazenave stole the ball away from TSU's point guard, which led to a layup on the other end. On the ensuing possession, it was Cazenave that drew a charge at midcourt with less than five seconds to play. Because of a TSU technical foul, Cazenave had to hit two free throws by himself, but they proved to be the difference in a 77-76 win over the Texans.

            "We just had to fight back," Cazenave said of his Bronchos team, which trailed by nine points in regulation and nine points again in overtime. "Sometimes you have to do whatever you can when you're down. We have a lot of guys who can score. But I try to take a lot of pride in my defense. Just whatever it takes."

            Thursday's win over Tarleton likely ended the Texans' season and dashed any hopes of making the regional tournament.

            Just a year earlier, Cazenave played a huge part in ending TSU's season as well. And did it on the Texans' home court.

            In the 2008 regional tournament in Stephenville, Cazenave hit a clutch 3-point basket in the final seconds to lift UCO to another 77-76 win over the Texans.

            "I'd have to say that was my biggest shot of my career," said Cazenave. "We had a great team last year. Sam (Belt) was definitely the focus of that team. Whenever he got the ball, he got double-teamed. My man helped off me and I just happened to get a good look at it and felt good coming off my hands. That's all that was. We were lucky enough to get by them. They probably should've won that game, too. That's just two games they probably should've won but with the fight we have, we just don't give up."

Even this past regular-season, Cazenave scored a season-high 23 points in a win over Tarleton.     

            "I don't have anything personal against them," Cazenave said. "This type of atmosphere, this just seems like the team of year when we play them. It's just two hard teams going at each other. Luckily, we've been coming out on top so far."

            It could just be that Cazenave has a thing for playing in the post-season. Even in last year's LSC tourney championship game against Texas A&M-Commerce, it was Cazenave who hit a clutch 3-pointer in the final minute that helped the Bronchos survive the Lions, a No. 4 seed that had upset their way to the finals.

            "I just have confidence that I'm going to make some big plays when my number is called," Cazenave said.

            The last two years, Cazenave played with Belt, the LSC's top player in 2008 and then this season with Lance Harper, the LSC North's Player of the Year. But Cazenave is no stranger to awards, himself. The 2007 North Division Freshman of the Year, Cazenave has also twice earned honorable mention all-conference honors.

            Still, it seems Cazenave prefers to take the backseat, at least until crunch time. 

            "We have guys who can score 20 points a night," Cazenave said. "I've played with some really good players. I just try to do my job. If I need to play defense, I'll do that. If I need to score and hit a big shot, I can do that."

            Especially if it's against Tarleton.