Defense Shines as Bison Roll Ouachita

ARKADELPHIA, Ark. - The Oklahoma Baptist men's basketball team held Ouachita to 32 percent shooting from the field on 18 made field goals while knocking down 12 3-pointers as they cruised to an 80-62 road win on Saturday afternoon at Bill Vining Arena.

The Bison shot 29 of 59 (49%) from the field, 12 of 28 (43%) from deep, and 10 of 16 (63%) from the free throw line. The Bison finished with 16 assists and out rebounded the Tigers 46-31. 

Ouachita shot 18 of 57 (32%) from the field, 8 of 28 (29%) from behind the arc, and 18 of 25 (72%) from the free throw line. OBU forced Ouachita into 15 turnovers on the afternoon.

OBU jumped out to a 4-0 and pushed that lead out to nine at 15-6 thanks to 3-pointers from Jaquan Simms, Kurt Hall, and Trey Green. That lead ballooned to 11 pointers at 22-11 as Brantly Thompson added a 3-pointer while Harrison Stoddart poured in four points. 

Ouachita got it back down to six points before Stoddart added a 3-pointer, Green added a 3-point play, and Jarius Hicklen added a basket to push the lead to 30-16 with under seven to play.

The run went out to 14-3 for OBU to push the lead to 36-19 after another 3-pointer, this time from Rashad Lewis, and a fastbreak lay in from Thompson. 

Green, Hicklen, and Sayvon Milton all added 3-pointers in the final minutes as they lead went to as many as 25. Ouachita got a few buckets back before the buzzer but OBU held a 49-29 lead at the break.

OBU was relentless in the second half as Hicklen hit big jumpers including a deep ball early on while Simms added another 3-pointer to make it a 64-36 game in the first five minutes of the second half. From there, OBU would continue to play excellent defense and never let the game get closer than 17 points as they cruised to the road win.

Stoddart had a double-double with 12 points and 10 boards to go with three blocks and a steal. Hicklen added 12 points and two steals while Simms had 11 points and three 3-pointers. Thompson scored nine with two steals while Lewis had nine points, five rebounds, four assists, and two steals. Green scored eight off the bench while Mohammed Abubakar had four points, six boards, and three blocks.

Grant Jones had 14 points while Allie Freeman had 13 points to lead the Tigers. Xavier Hall added 12 points while Raymond Harris had 10.

OBU moves to 8-4 on the year and 3-3 in the GAC. They return to action this upcoming Thursday as they welcome in Harding for 7:30 p.m. at the Noble Complex.