Red Hot Buffs Too Much for Bison in Season Opener

CANYON, Texas - The Oklahoma Baptist men's basketball team was up to the challenge as they traveled to take on third-ranked West Texas A&M in their season opener on Tuesday afternoon.

However, the Buffs knocked down 18 3-pointers to extend the nation's longest home winning streak to 45 games in a 94-79 win over the Bison.

The Bison struggled from the field, shooting 23 of 53 (43%) from the field including 5 of 16 (31%) from behind the arc. OBU did get to the free throw line 36 times and shot 78 percent at the line.

OBU battled in the early going, jumped out to 4-1 lead in the first four minutes as Jordan Thompson and Justin Tene knocked down the first few points for OBU. The Bison extended that lead to 10-7 with baskets from Jaquan Simms, Jarius Hicklen, and Thompson.

West Texas took their first lead at 13-10 nine minutes into the game, but OBU held serve with the Buffs throughout most of the first half thanks to excellent defense in the early going. 

A three-pointer from from Simms at the under eight gave OBU a 22-21 lead, but a 10-0 run by West Texas pushed them ahead 31-22 with five minutes to play in the half. The two teams went back-and-forth in the final minutes with West Texas holding a 42-32 lead at the break. 

The Bison got the game down to six points early in the second half off a 3-point play from Simms and a 3-pointer from Brantly Thompson, but West Texas turned the game on its head with a massive 13-0 run thanks to a barrage of 3-pointers to take their largest lead of the game at 59-40.

Every time the Bison tried to put together some sort of run to climb back into the contest, the Buffs answered with a back breaking 3-pointer. The Buffs shot close to 60 percent for most of the second half after only shooting 41 percent in the first half.

The Bison got great contributions from numerous players, but ultimately they fell short as West Texas pulled away for the victory.

Simms finished with 20 points on 7 of 13 shooting while Hicklen added 15 points in the contest to go with eight boards. The freshman Thompson was impressive in his debut with 12 points on 4 of 6 shooting and three assists while Harrison Stoddart added 12 points. Brantly Thompson had 10 points while Nigel Wilcox pulled down nine boards.

The Buffs were led by Jon'il Fugett with 19 points while Qua Grant added 17 points and 10 assists. Zach Toussaint added 16 points off the bench.

Oklahoma Baptist returns to action on Thursday night as they welcome in Southeastern Oklahoma State for their conference opener beginning at 7:30 p.m. inside the Noble Complex.