ST. JOSEPH, Mo – Despite a late second-half surge by Oklahoma Baptist, a resilient Missouri Western squad topped the nationally ranked Bison 74-71 inside the Looney Center on Friday night.
OBU shot 43.8% percent on 28-of-64 shooting from the field, including seven three-pointers. The Bison hustled to out-rebound the Griffons 35-32 and forced 12 MWSU turnovers, but this wasn't enough as Missouri Western made shots when it mattered most.
Oklahoma Baptist began the contest on top, building an 8-5 lead early on. However, the Griffons mounted a 13-7 run that left the Bison down 18-15 with 9:03 left in the first half.
The two squads exchanged leads until Missouri Western found their rhythm under the 4:00 mark to start 13-5 run to end the half and lead 34-26 going into the break.
After the Griffons built a seven-point lead, OBU responded by bringing the game within two, 37-36. MWSU refused to give up the reigns as each time the Bison came within reach, they pulled away.
Finally, three straight triples, courtesy of
Brantly Thompson and
Trey Green, made things interesting. At the 1:05 mark, the Bison trailed by one, 69-67, but a MWSU three-pointer put a dagger on the game. The Griffons sealed the contest from there on out, handing Oklahoma Baptist their first loss of the season.
Brantly Thompson led all Bison scorers with 20 points while
Burke Putnam followed behind with 17. Putnam added six assists and a team-best three steals to his stat sheet.
Justin Tene produced valuable minutes for OBU, charting 10 points on 5-of-6 shooting. Tene also denied two shots and brought down six rebounds.
Nigel Wilcox posted a team-high eight rebounds to go along with nine points and a steal. Freshman
D.J. Freeman rounded off the Bison notables with seven points and five boards.
Oklahoma Baptist will look to rebound as they travel to Topeka, Kansas to face No. 22 Washburn on November 23 at 7:00 p.m.
