SHAWNEE - The Oklahoma Baptist men's basketball team is back in action as they hit the road for a Saturday afternoon tilt with Southeastern Oklahoma State followed by a Monday evening clash with rival Southern Nazarene inside the Noble Complex.
The Bison were scheduled to play Northwestern Oklahoma State at home on Thursday, but that game was canceled due to COVID-19 issues in the Ranger program.
Monday's game will be on the Bison Sports Network on the
OBU YouTube channel featuring Todd Miller on play-by-play and Scott Wanish on color commentary. The game will also be featured on the
Bison Radio Network across the state of Oklahoma and on the iHeartRadio app. On Saturday, the Bison's contest will be on the Bison Radio Network with Miller and Wanish.
The Bison came off a huge victory on Saturday afternoon over Southwestern Oklahoma State, using a 27 point outing from
Harrison Stoddart and a 21 point game from
Jarius Hicklen to grab the lead in the second half and never look back.
OBU has struggled at times offensively as cold spells along with turnovers have been the main concern in OBU's losses. The Bison are averaging right around 70 points per game and are only shooting 45 percent from the field and 34 percent from behind the arc. OBU is averaging almost 16 turnovers per contest while opponents are only giving it away 12 times.
Senior
Harrison Stoddart leads teh team with 15.6 points per game and 5.2 rebounds per game with five blocks. Stoddart is five points away from a milestone, as he will become the 49th player in OBU basketball history to join the 1,000 point club. Stoddart has been one of the most impressive shooters in the league and in the nation, shooting 70 percent from the field which leads the GAC and is currently 13th in the country. He also leads the conference and is top 30 in the country in free throw percentage at 94 percent.
Hicklen has been terrific as well, averaging 15.2 points per game to go with 4.6 rebounds per game while
Brantly Thompson adds 10.8 points per game, 5.8 rebounds per game, and just over four assists per contest.
Jaquan Simms has had a slow start offensively, but still averages 10.2 points per game while
Jordan Thompson has been terrific off the bench with 8.4 points per game.
Nigel Wilcox leads the team with 7.4 rebounds per game and is second in the GAC with eight blocks while
Trey Green leads the team in steals with seven this season.
Against ECU last Thursday, it was a tale of two halves on Thursday evening inside the Noble Complex as OBU used a red-hot shooting half to build a double-digit first half lead. However, turnovers and a cold streak from the field spelled disaster for the Bison as East Central stormed back to take a 76-72 road win.
Brantly Thompson finished with 24 points including six 3-pointers to go with eight boards, and four assists, while Hicklen added 13 points, five rebounds, and three assists. Stoddart scored 11 points to go with seven boards, five assists, and three blocks, and Green scored 10 points with six boards and three assists.
Nigel Wilcox was excellent down low with nine points, eight rebounds, and four blocks.
Up two in the waning seconds on Saturday, Hicklen apped off a masterful performance by picking the pocket of Damion Thornton to run out the clock and give OBU the huge 76-74 victory on Saturday afternoon. Stoddart had a career-high 27 points to go with six rebounds while Hicklen scored 21 on five 3-pointers to go with three rebounds and a key steal.
Jordan Thompson added 11 points while
Trey Green had five boards and a pair of steals.
Two players flirted with a triple-double in
Brantly Thompson and Simms as Thompson had eight points, seven boards, and seven assists while Simms had seven points, six boards, and six assists.
Southeastern comes into Thursday's games with a surprising 1-3 record both overall and in the GAC. Adam Dworsky leads the way with 18.8 points per game and 8.5 assists per game while Kellen Manek has missed time with an injury, only playing in the OBU game to open the season and averaging 14 points and seven boards. Bobby Johnson and Vadim Clanet are also both in double figures.
The Bison defeated Southeastern in their home opener on January 7th by the score of 73-59 behind 21 points from Stoddart and 20 from Hicklen. Manek led the way with 14 while Johnson added 12.
SNU enters their Thursday contest with a 3-2 record overall and in the GAC. Manny Dixon leads the Crimson Storm with 17.2 points per game while Mo Wilson, Jr. adds 14.0 points per game, 7.8 boards per game, and over two steals per contest. The Crimson Storm used 32 points including eight 3-pointers from Dixon to rout the Bison by the score of 65-49 on January 11th in Bethany.
Tip-off on Saturday is set for 4:00 p.m. in Durant while Monday's contest in the Noble Complex is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
