Bison Drop Road Contest at East Central

ADA, Okla. - In a high scoring affair, the Oklahoma Baptist men's basketball team could not slow down the high powered East Central offense as they fell to the Tigers in Ada by the score of 97-85 on Saturday afternoon.

OBU shot 31 of 67 (46%) and 9 of 24 (38%) from deep while also going 14 of 22 (64%) from the free throw line. On the other side, East Central was red hot, shooting 31 of 56 (55%) from the field, 12 of 19 (63%) from deep, and 23 of 27 (85%) from the free throw line.

East Central held a 36-33 advantage in rebounds OBU forced 14 ECU turnovers to only 11 from the Bison. OBU held a 48-28 advantage on the bench and a 40-26 advantage in points in the paint.

It was a nightmare start for Oklahoma Baptist that they were not able to recover from as they fell into a 14-0 hole in the first five minutes of the game. The Bison got going and were able to get it down to a five point game in the next five minutes to cut the defciit to 20-15. 

However, East Central was able to push their lead out to as many to 16 points in the final 10 minutes, but back-to-back 3-pointers from Kurt Hall and Jarius Hicklen to close the half made it a 39-29 game at the break.

It was a high scoring, even second half throughout hte game as both teams went over 50 points in the second half. The Bison would get it as close as three points with 10 minutes to play in the game, but East Central was able to maintain the rally and build their lead back out to double digits to take the win on their home floor.

Hall scored 15 points on 6 of 9 shooting off the bench while Harrison Stoddart added 14 points on 5 of 8 shooting. Rashad Lewis scored 13 points, Hicklen added 12 points, and Jaquan Simms pitched in 11 points. Dishon Lowery had 10 points and nine rebounds. 

Cameron Talley led East Central with 20 points including four 3-pointers and five assists while Tyler Arnold added 17 points.

OBU moves to 4-3 overall and 1-2 in the GAC. They will look to bounce back on Saturday as they return to the Noble Complex, welcoming in Southwestern Oklahoma State at 3 p.m.