Bison Beat Tech to Remain Unbeaten at Home

SHAWNEE - The Oklahoma Baptist men's basketball team moved to 7-0 inside the Noble Complex as they pulled away from the Arkansas Tech Wonder Boys in the second half to take a 75-61 victory on Saturday afternoon.

With the win, OBU has now won three consecutive games and six of their last seven to set up a showdown next Thursday against two-time defending GAC Champion Southern Nazarene.

The Bison continued to play well offensively, shooting 26 of 54 (48%) from the field though struggling from behind the arc at 3 of 16 (19%) and 20 of 34 (59%) from the free throw line. Tech came into the game averaging almost 80 point per game, but the Bison held them to 23 of 59 (39%) from the field, 9 of 28 (32%) from deep, and 6 of 10 (60%) from the free throw line.

The Bison turned it over 20 times, but forced ATU into 18 while dominating the boards 46-27. OBU had 18 assists as a team in the game and had 38 points in the paint.

It was fireworks between the two teams in the first half as the two teams battled back-and-forth, trading buckets as Harrison Stoddart and Dishon Lowery each had five points for the team's first 10 points. 

Trailing 18-14, OBU went on an 11-0 which including back-to-back dunks from Brantly Thompson and Mohammed Abubakar and a 3-pointer from Kurt Hall. Hall was huge off the bench with seven first half points to help OBU build a lead.

That 11-0 run turned into an 18-4 run as Thompson got up to seven points to make it a 32-22 game with 6:39 to play in the half. From that point, OBU cooled down from the field, scoring only four points, but using good defense to take a 36-30 lead into the break.

Arkansas Tech started fast in the second half as they got the game down to three points at 40-37 at the first media timeout. OBU responded with a 7-0 run including lay ups by Jaquan Simms, Rashad Lewis, and Hall to get the lead back to 10 at 47-37. 

The Wonder Boys tried to respond back, but OBU go the lead out to 11 and never let Tech get much closer than nine. The Bison would dominate the paint and began to force Tech into fouling which pushed their lead at high at 16 points. The Bison faced no threat of a comeback in the final minutes and closed out for a 75-61 win.

Stoddart led the way with 16 points on 6 of 8 shooting to go with five boards and three steals while Thompson scored 11 points with five boards and five assists. Hicklen and Hall each scored 10 off the bench with Hall pulling in five rebounds and two steals.

Lewis scored nine points to go with six boards, six assists, and two steals while Lowery had seven points and seven rebounds. Simms cooled down after his 31 point game, but still made an impact with nine rebounds, five assists, and two steals. 

Tony Hall had 20 points and five rebounds for Arkansas Tech while Devante Foster and Kevin McNeal each had 10 points. 

OBU moves to 10-4 on the year and 5-3 in the GAC with that huge match-up with SNU looming. Tip-off from the Sawyer Center in Bethany is set for 7:30 p.m. on Thursday.