SHAWNEE - With five minutes to play in the second half, the Oklahoma Baptist men's basketball team and Northwestern Oklahoma State were even at 69 a piece and it was looking like a heavyweight fight as to who would walk out of Shawnee with a key GAC victory. From there, the Bison went on a huge 14-2 run to close out the Rangers and earn the 83-71 win on Saturday afternoon in the Noble Complex.
The Bison shot 26 of 55 (47%) from the field, 10 of 27 (37%) from deep, and 21 of 29 (72%) from the charity stripe while Northwestern was 24 of 53 (45%) from the field, 8 of 20 (40%) from behind the arc, and 15 of 24 (63%) from the free throw line. OBU held a 30-26 advantage in free throws.Â
It was an even contest early on as neither team could grow a lead past three points with a mix of solid defense and good shot making on both sides. OBU was clinging to a 20-19 before rattling off a 12-0 run capped by a pair of
Brantly Thompson 3-pointers to bring the crowd to its feet.
OBU held a 34-22 lead with 2:53 to play in the half, but Northwestern closed the gap with a 10-0 run to end the half and make it a 36-32 game going into the break.
It was an even stalemate through the first five minutes of the second half, but the Rangers were red hot from the field, going 11 of 12 to start the second half and getting to the free throw line 12 times in the first 10 minutes to suddenly build a nine point lead at 58-49 thanks to their red how shooting.
Down 60-52, OBU had a quick answer including five straight points from
Harrison Stoddart to get the game back down to two points. After falling behind by five again, OBU answered with back-to-back 3-pointers from
Jaquan Simms and Thompson to move back ahead 64-63.
The two teams exchanged possessions back-and-forth until the game was even at 69 a piece going into the final five minutes of the game. Three points from
Dishon Lowery made it a 72-69 game. Aftera a pair of free throws from Northwestern, they would not score again as OBU ran away with the contest including a 3-pointer from Thompson, a lay in from Thompson, and free throw from Lowery and
Rashad Lewis to close out the game.
Thompson led the Bison with 18 points including four three pointers while Stoddart scored 13 points to go with five boards. Lowery notched a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds to go with two steals while
Jacque Brown had 11 points, five assists, and two steals. Lewis added nine points and four assists while
Mohammed Abubakar had seven points and a block.
Parrish Hewitt led the Rangers with 17 points while Jaedon Whitfield scored 12 points to go with eight rebounds and three steals.
OBU moves to 4-2 on the year and will take some time off before returning to action on December 7th as they head to Ada to take on East Central at 3 p.m.
