FORT COLLINS, Colo.—Panhandle State didn’t celebrate its 97-91 win over Colorado State Tuesday. After the game ended, the the Division II team from Goodwell, Oklahoma, and the Heartland Conference stood stunned at their victory over a Division I program.
“It hasn’t sunk in yet,” said forward Will Stephenson. “We have a conference game to think of later in the week and can’t even think about this one.”
Stephenson scored five of his 28 points in overtime to lead Panhandle State to the upset. Colorado State (6-9) hadn’t lost to a Division II team in 20 years since losing 58-54 to Northern Colorado in the 1986-87 season. Northern Colorado became a Division I school in 2003.
Fred Durr added 25 for Oklahoma Panhandle State (7-4).
“We stayed with them the whole game,” Stephenson said. “I didn’t know we had it until the final 11 seconds.”
“I didn’t feel comfortable until the final buzzer,” Panhandle State coach Jerry Olson said. “That’s a good team over there and we had to play hard to win this one.”
Stephenson put the Aggies up 85-83 with a rebound basket over Ronnie Aguilar with 2:06 left in the extra period. Aguilar missed two free throws, turned the ball over, then missed a shot in Colorado State’s next three possessions. Stephenson then scored on a breakaway layup to make it 87-83 and later put the game away with a free throw with 11 seconds left that made it 94-85.
“We came out aggressively in overtime and stayed that way,” Olson said. “And we played aggressively on defense to get stops when we needed them.”
Marcus Walker led the Rams with 27 points and Aguilar added 12 points and 17 rebounds.
“This loss was self inflicted,” Colorado State coach Tim Miles said. “You don’t beat anybody when you have 22 turnovers, make barely better than half your free throws and have as many defensive breakdowns as we did.”
Panhandle State scored 27 points off turnovers, while Colorado State was 13-for-25 from the free throw line.
“This one was on me,” Miles said. “I take responsibility for us not being prepared.”
Colorado State played a second straight game without 7-foot center Stuart Creason, who is out with an injured right foot.
Colorado State couldn’t shake the Aggies in the second half.
Antoine Callum hit a jumper with 1:56 left to put Panhandle State ahead 78-76, but Colorado State tied it at 78 with 56 seconds left when Aguilar hit 2-of-4 free throws. Stephenson missed a layup for Panhandle State, but preserved the tie by blocking Aguilar’s shot with 10 seconds left. Stephenson then missed a 3-pointer with 2 seconds remaining to send the game into overtime.
Colorado State led 41-33 at halftime despite 12 turnovers. Panhandle State shot 34 percent in the first period, but tied the game at 23 on Stephenson’s jumper with 7:31 left.
