SHAWNEE - The Oklahoma Baptist men's basketball team return to action for their final road trip of the season as they take on Arkansas Tech on Thursday night and Harding on Saturday night.
Tip-off is slated for 7:30 p.m. on Thursday between the Bison and the Wonder Boys while Saturday's game between the pair of Bison is set for 3 p.m., both following the women's games. The games will be on KGFF in Shawnee with
James Hill and Scott Wanish.
The Bison enter the weekend ranked No. 8 in the Central Region as first set of NCAA Regional Rankings released on Wednesday. The Bison would punch their ticket to the NCAA Tournament if they held steady in the top eight.
OBU comes off one of their biggest weekends since joining NCAA Division II, putting together a 2-0 home weekend. The Bison defeated two-time defending GAC Championship Southern Nazarene, 59-56, before turning around and knocking off East Central in a thrilling 99-96 overtime game.
Jaquan Simms comes off a big weekend as he scored 10 in the win over Southern Nazarene before scoring 19 in the win over the Tigers to go with six boards and three steals. Simms leads the team with 13.0 points per game to go with 1.3 steals per game.
Rashad Lewis had the biggest assist of the game against SNU as he had seven against the Storm followed by a 17 point, eight rebound, and six assist game in the win over East Central. Lewis averages 11.2 points per game to go with 4.1 assists per game and 1.1 steals per game.
Dishon Lowery and
Harrison Stoddart continue to dominate the post. Lowery has double digit scoring in seven straight games, scoring 14 to go with eight assists against SNU followed by a 13 point, nine rebound game against ECU. Lowery sits at 10.0 points per game and 7.1 rebounds per game.
Meanwhile Stoddart had 14 points, seven rebounds, and four blocks in the win over the Storm as he sits on 11.4 points per game to go with 5.4 rebounds per game and 1.3 blocks per game.
The bench has been huge for OBU as of late including
Jarius Hicklen, who had the go-ahead steal and free throw against SNU and 20 points against ECU,
Trey Green, who had 11 points in the East Central win, and Sayvon Miltion, who scored six points off the bench in the win over East Central.
OBU had a pair of wins over Tech and Harding in Shawnee earlier this year. The Bison rolled Harding to a 95-67 win on Thursday night before responding with a 75-61 win over the Wonder Boys that Saturday night.
Arkansas Tech comes in at 12-12 overall and 8-10 in the GAC. The Wonder Boys have lost six of their last seven games.
Tech is led by R.J. Glasper who averages 17.5 points per game to go with 143 assists and 34 steals. Devante Foster comes in with 12.0 points per game and 7.5 rebounds per game while Dillon Gooding has 11.5 points per game.
Harding comes in with an 8-16 overall record and 3-13 in the GAC. The Bison have lost six of their last seven though four of their last eight games have gone into overtime.Â
Romio Harris leads Harding with 21.4 points per game while Jordan West checks in with 8.6 points per game. Emir Ahmedic adds 8.6 points per game and 5.5 rebounds per game while Davis Morgan also had 8.6 points per game.
OBU is fourth in the GAC as they sit two games back of first place in the GAC where Southern Nazarene and Southeastern Oklahoma State sit atop, while the Bison are one game back of Henderson State in second place.
