ADA, Okla. - With 8:58 to go in the Oklahoma Baptist men's basketball contest against East Central, senior
Harrison Stoddart fouled out and the Tigers moved ahead by five, 47-42, with under eight to play.
Similar to their last game against SWOSU, OBU closed the game on a 21-11 run thanks to stellar defense from
Nigel Wilcox and clutch shots from
Brantly Thompson to roar back and take a 63-58 win over ECU on Thursday evening inside the Kerr Activities Center.
It was a defensive slugfest as neither team could get much of anything going on the offensive end. The Bison ended up shooting 23 of 51 (45%) from the field including 12 of 23 (52%) in the second half, but were only 5 of 18 (28%) overall from behind the arc. OBU also struggled at the line, going 12 of 22 (55%).
On the defensive end, OBU shut down East Central's offense, holding the Tigers to 20 of 54 (37%) from the field and 4 of 14 (29%) from behind the arc. The Bison out-rebounded ECU 38-33 and had a season-high seven blocks on the night. The Bison also had a 34-26 advantage inside the paint.
Despite the offensive woes, OBU got out to a red hot start in the first two minutes as Stoddart, Thompson, and
Trey Green all knocked down a 3-pointer while Wilcox got a lay in in the paint for a quick 11-4 lead. A lay in from
Trace Boling pushed that lead out to 13-4, one the Bison would extend to 17-8 after lay ins from Wilcox and
Jordan Thompson.
The Bison would go ice cold from there as they only scored 10 points for the remainder of the half as it seemed like a lid was on the basket and nothing would go down.
East Central had similar woes thanks to the OBU defense. The Tigers closed it down to one point at 21-20 with five to play, but a 6-0 run by OBU including back-to-back mid-range buckets from
Brantly Thompson pushed the lead to 27-20. ECU got a bucket before the half to cut it to five at the break.
ECU closed on the lead fast to start the second half and the game see-sawed back-and-forth with OBU clinging to a one possession lead. The Bison got a basket plus the foul from Green to move back up by six and eventually moved ahead by seven on another and one, this time from Stoddart.
Fouls became an issue for OBU as ECU got in the bonus five minutes into the second half. OBU held a 42-37 lead, but the Tigers went on a 10-0 run including fouling out Stoddart and seemed to be in control with under eight to play.
OBU responded by the hands of Wilcox as he scored eight straight points for the Bison including a pair of monster breakaway dunks off of steals he forced to move back ahead 50-49.
After a
Jaquan Simms free throw to make it a one point game,
Brantly Thompson fired and buried a 3-pointer to lead by five. ECU responded with free throws and after an assist from Thompson to Simms, Thompson struck again on the following possession with another 3-pointer to push the lead back out to eight at 59-51 with two minutes to play.
OBU's struggles from the free throw line in the final two minutes made it closer in the final minute, but the Bison never faced the danger of a one possession game and ECU holding possession as they held off for the huge 63-58 win.
Wilcox picked up his second straight double-double, going for 17 points and 13 rebounds as well as four blocks and two steals.
Brantly Thompson overcame a slow shooting start to score 14 points with for boards, four assists, and two blocks while Stoddart, despite an early exit, scored 10 points to go with five rebounds.
Simms scored eight with four assists while Green had six points and seven rebound. The freshman duo of Thompson and Boling each had four points with Thompson adding two steals.
Jakeem Acres led ECU with 15 points while Tylor Arnold had 13 points and six boards. Jalen Crutchfield had 13 points and eight rebounds while Josh Apple poured in 10 points.
The Bison move to 6-3 overall and 6-2 in the GAC, taking a 1.5 game lead in the Western Division after SWOSU fell to Southern Nazarene earlier today. OBU will return to action on Thursday as they hit the road to Alva to take on Northwestern Oklahoma State for the first time this season.
Tip-off from Percefull Fieldhouse is set for 7:30 p.m. and will be carried on the Bison Radio Network.
