SHAWNEE – In front of an eager crowd of Bison faithful, the Oklahoma Baptist basketball team strutted their stuff in a 107-75 win over USAO inside the Noble Complex on Friday.
Tonight was the first of two exhibitions that OBU has scheduled before their official season opener in the GAC/NSIC Conference Challenge. The Bison finished shooting 61.9 percent from the field and knocked down 11-of-19 (57.9%) from the arc.
Oklahoma Baptist came out in mid-season form as they made good on 66.7 percent of their free-throw attempts and forced 19 tournovers. Senior Harrison Stoddart got off to a hot start and didn't look back as he led the Bison with 27 points, shooting 72.7 percent from the floor and 8-of-10 from the charity stripe. Teammate Jacquan Simms followed up with 18 points, including four three-pointers, and five boards.
Burke Putnam finished his Bison debut with 13 points and two assists while Brantly Thompson chipped in a matching 13 points. Thompson led the squad with nine assists and borught down four rebounds. Nigel Wilcox fought his way to 10 points and three steals while freshman D.J. Freeman added eight points of his own. Freeman electrified Noble tonight with multiple hustle plays, resulting in a team-high six rebounds.
Other notable were Kadin Knight and Legend Barrett, who added seven and five points, respectively.
OBU will open its regular season on November 12 to host the 2021 GAC/NSIC Conference Challenge. The event will include GAC foe Southeastern Oklahoma State, Wayne State College, and Minnesota State-Moorehead University.
