SHAWNEE - In a wild contest that saw 68 fouls called and 86 combined free throws taken, the Oklahoma Baptist men's basketball team shot over 50 percent from both the field and behind the arc while getting to the free throw line 50 times in a 113-96 win over Southwestern Oklahoma State on Saturday afternoon at the Noble Complex.
The 113 points is a season high for OBU and the most points scored by the Bison since taking down Manhattan Christian 113-80 in 2016-17.The 50 free throws taken is the second most free throws in a game this season in all of NCAA Division II.
The Bison shot 32 of 60 (53%) from the field and 12 of 24 (50%) from behind the arc. The Bison got it done at the charity stripe, going 37 of 50 (74%) at the free throw line. On the other end, SWOSU was 29 of 75 (39%) from the field, 10 of 32 (31%) from behind the arc, and 28 of 36 (78%) at the free throw line. The Bison dominated the boards at 50-36 despite losing the turnover battles with 19 on the day to the Bulldogs 12. OBU had an impressive 21 assists as a team in the contest.
OBU raced out to an 11-2 lead early in the contest thanks to a 3-point play from
Harrison Stoddart and back-to-back 3-pointers from
Jacque Brown and
Brantly Thompson. The Bison kept their foot on the gas pedal early in the first half, finding no trouble with SWOSU's fastbreak and burying 3-pointers all half.
Trey Green came off the bench and knocked down a pair of long balls to get the lead to 10 at 26-16.
OBU built that lead out to 14 as Stoddart was excellent in the paint while
Jaquan Simms and
Rashad Lewis knocked down 3-pointers for a 38-24 lead with five minutes to play in the half. Moments later,
Dishon Lowery went to work in the post to push the lead to 16.
As the half dwindled down, the Bison got the lead as high as 20 points, but SWOSUÂ hit a three towards the end of the period as OBU overwhelmed the Bulldogs defense for a 54-37 halftime lead.
That lead was pushed out to 25 points in the first four minutes of the second half as Stoddart converted on another 3-point play. From there, the second half turned into a free throw shooting contest as both teams got in the bonus early and could not seem to stop fouling.
Leading 71-51 with under 12 to play, OBU got bogged down offensively and SWOSU responded with a 15-4 run to get the game down to nine points with under nine minutes to play. However, it was too much OBU as the 3-ball kept falling as Green and Simms knocked down deep 3's while Stoddart and
Jarius Hicklen finished at the bucket to move the lead back out to 17 points with six minutes to play.
From there, OBU was able to stay comfortably ahead as they saw their point total and free throw numbers continue to rise. A lay up from Hicklen with 2:55 to play got the Bison over 100 points for the first time this season. OBU was able to empty the bench and cruise to the 113-96 win on their home floor, remaining undefeated at 4-0.
Simms finished with 22 points including four 3-pointers, seven boards, five assists, and a steal. Stoddart added 17 points and eight rebounds while Thompson had 13 points and 14 boards to go with five assists. Lewis scored 13 points while Hicklen also had 13 points off the bench. Green pitched in 11 points and three 3-pointers while Lowery had 10 points and eight rebounds.
Marquis Johnson led SWOSU with 31 points, five assists, and three steals while Jaylan Williams added 14 points and four 3-pointers of his own. A total of seven players from both sides fouled out in Saturday afternoon's contest.
The Bison move to 5-3 overall and 2-2 in the GAC after a very tough early window of games. The Bison will hit the road for the final time in 2019 as they travel to Edmond on Tuesady to take on the Central Oklahoma Bronchos. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.
