SHAWNEE – Oklahoma Baptist leaves Shawnee for their first road trip of the season as they travel to St. Joseph, MO for a Friday night battle with Missouri Western State (1-3, 0-0 MIAA). The contest is a part of the 30
th Annual Hillyard Men's Basketball Tip-Off Classic, hosted by the Griffons. OBU will face off with MWSU on Friday at 7:30 p.m. inside MWSU Fieldhouse in St. Joseph.
The game will be on the Bison Sports Network featuring Todd Miller on play-by-play and Scott Wanish on color commentary.
The Bison opened the 2021-22 season with a 2-0 showing in the GAC/NSIC Challenge last weekend. The Bison took down Northern Sun members Wayne State College (Neb.) and Minnesota State-Moorhead by scores of 74-61 and 90-87 (2OT), respectively. OBU now holds 2-0 (WSC) and 1-0 (MSUM) records against the squads in school history.
After their successful weekend, OBU has cracked the D2SIDA Division II top-25 poll for the second time in school history. The committee announced OBU at the No. 17 spot after garnering 129 points to jump into the standings after not being included in the preseason release. This is the highest-ranking since Oklahoma Baptist joined Division-II, as the Bison earned a No. 24 ranking at the end of the 2020-21 season. Oklahoma Baptist also received their highest regional ranking in school history, taking the No. 2 spot in the latest D2SIDA Central Region Poll. After earning 56 points and two first-place votes, the Bison move up from their
preseason regional ranking of No. 2.
Newcomers
Burke Putnam and
D.J. Freeman shined last week. Freeman, a freshman, did great work coming off the bench against WSC and starting against MSUM. He averaged 7.5 PPG, shooting 7-of-10 (70%) and hustled his way to 10 total rebounds. His best game came against the Dragons as he charted nine points on 4-of-6 shooting, grabbed five rebounds and blocked one shot. Valdosta State transfer Burke Putman averaged 29.0 PPG, shooting 55 percent from the floor, and 8.5 boards per game. Putnam's 33-point performance against Wayne St. was the most points by a Bison player since Antonio Wade dropped 36 against Northwestern Oklahoma State on January 19, 2019. He achieved the feat by shooting 14-of-21 (66.7%) from the floor. Putnam turned around to post 25 points against MSUM, as his free-throw makes in the overtime periods helped the Bison to victory. He currently ranks four in the country in scoring and is tied for a team-best 17 rebounds through two games.
Missouri Western State enters the weekend 1-3 and will act as hosts of the 2021 Hillyard Men's Basketball Tip-Off Classic. After receiving eight votes in the D2SIDA Central Region Poll, MWSU has dropped out of the regional rankings following two straight losses. The Griffons are coming off an 81-77 overtime loss to GAC member Henderson State last Sunday. Missouri Western shot 42.4 percent to Henderson's 44.1 percent from the floor in the contest. After building a 39-34 lead, MWSU allowed HSU to mount a second-half comeback to force overtime. The Reddies closed out with a 14-4 run over the final 4:16 of regulation and extended it to 21-7 over the first 2:30 of the extra stanza to overcome Missouri Western.
Junior guard JaQuaylon Mays led the Griffons with 22 points, including a team-high four triples, on 9-of-20 (45%) shooting. JaRon Thames and Alex John were the other MWSU players in double-figures as they put up 17 and 14, respectively. Forward Will Eames finished with a team-high 11 rebounds to go along with eight points. This season, Mays leads Missouri Western in scoring, averaging 25.5 PPG and shooting just over 47 percent from the floor. The junior has scored at least 22 points or more in four straight games. Thames is second on the squad in scoring, as he has come off the bench to collect 10.5 PPG at an efficient 53.1 percent shooting clip. Eames leads the team with 41 rebounds and ranks third in scoring at 9.8 PPG. He is currently ranked No. 2 in the nation for total rebounds, averaging 10.3 per game.
Missouri Western is led by Head Coach Will Martin, who is in his second season with the Griffons. He led MWSU to a 14-22 record during the 2020-21 season, including a 13-9 in the MIAA. Last season, Missouri Western tied for third in their league and qualified for the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2010. The Griffons were picked to finish third in the 2021-22 MIAA Preseason Media Poll and fifth in the Coaches Poll.
