SHAWNEE - In the last three contests in the Noble Complex, the Oklahoma Baptist men's basketball team has taken on the No. 1 team in the GAC all three times in Henderson State, Southeastern Oklahoma State, and Southern Nazarene.
The result was the same in all three game. Win, win, win.
OBU got a late game steal from
Jarius Hicklen in a tie game and knocked down a free throw as the Bison knocked off the Crimson Storm for the first time in the NCAA Division II era, snapping a nine game losing streak to the Storm in a 59-56 victory at the Noble Complex on Thursday night.
The Bison shot 22 of 46 (48%) from the field and 7 of 20 (35%) from behind the arc. The Bison were 8 of 13 (62%) at the free throw line. On the other side, the Bison defense held one of the best offenses in the GAC to 19 of 45 (42%) from the field, 7 of 23 (30%) from deep, and a tough 11 of 20 (55%) from the free throw line.
OBU held a 30-26 advantage in rebounds while turning the Storm over 14 times. OBU was able to overcome 17 turnovers of their own, but had an impressive 26 points inside the paint and 17 points of turnovers.
SNU got off to the hot start in Noble, holding a 13-5 lead in the first five minutes of the contest. However, the OBU defense stepped their game up the rest of the way, holding the Crimson Storm to only 15 points the remaining 15 minutes.
Harrison Stoddart went to work with five straight points while
Brantly Thompson knocked down back-to-back 3-pointer to go on an 11-2 run and take a 16-15 lead. The two teams battled back-and-forth as
Jaquan Simms knocked down a deep shot to move ahead 20-18.
SNU pushed back ahead to take a 23-20 lead, but OBU scored the next nine points thanks to a 3-point play from Lowery while Stoddart and Simms knocked down deep balls to push the lead to 29-23. SNU scored the final five points, but OBU held a 29-28 lead at the break.
OBU came out on fire to start the second half as Stoddart and Lowery dominated the paint to push the lead to 35-28. After SNU buried a 3-pointer,
Trey Green knocked down a big 3-pointer from the corner to go back ahead 38-31. A Simms lay up upped the lead to 40-31 five minutes into the second half.
After SNU cut it to six, Lowery responded with an incredible 3-point play to push the lead out to nine again at 43-34. OBU maintained that nine point lead as the game moved under 10 minutes, but SNU began to chip away at the deficit.
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Jarius Hicklen lay up go the lead back to nine at 50-41, but a Storm 7-0 run close the gap to 50-48 with under six to play. Stoddart hit a lay in and added two free throws the next possession to take a 54-48 lead with five to play.
SNU again responded and got it back down to two points at 54-52, but
Rashad Lewis answered with a beautiful fade away jumped in the paint to cut it back to 56-52.
The Storm beared down defensively as a Jhonathan Dunn jumped with 1:19 remaining evened the game at 56 a piece. OBU missed a 3-pointer on their next possession and SNU got a team offensive board and had a base line inbounds with 20 seconds remaining. The long pass was picked off by Hicklen who sprinted to the basket and drew the foul.
Hicklen knocked down 1 of 2 and put OBU back ahead 57-56 with 15 seconds to play and OBU got the stop on the other end as Lewis pulled down the board and drew the foul with 1.1 seconds.
Lewis hit both and SNU ran out of time to get a shot off as the Bison took home the electric 59-56 win.
Stoddart scored 14 points to go with five boards and four blocks while Lowery added 14 points, eight rebounds, and a steal. The two forwards combined to go 13 of 16 from the field on Thursday evening. Simms scored 10 points to go iwth three assists while
Brantly Thompson had eight points and six boards. Lewis had four points and seven assists while Hicklen only scored the biggest three points to go with two steals.
Micah Speight led SNU with 15 points while Jhonathan Dunn had 14 points. The Bison held the dynamic duo to on 10 of 26 shooting from the field combined. Manny Dixon pitched in 10 points off the bench.
OBU moves to 15-8 overall and 10-7 in the GAC. They return home on Saturday afternoon as the East Central Tigers come calling. Tip-off is scheduled for 3 p.m. from the Noble Complex.
