SHAWNEE – After six straight games on the road, the Oklahoma Baptist men's basketball team returns to the Noble Complex to face off against the Southeastern on Saturday at 3:00 p.m. This will be the 161st all-time meeting between the two with the Savage Storm holding a 101-59 lead over the Bison.
OBU is coming off a successful conference opening week, involving two wins over Northwestern and Southwestern Oklahoma State.
Against Southwestern, OBU grabbed the early lead again to hold a 42-33 advantage at halftime. The Bison kept their momentum in the second half, relying on the production of the bench that outscored SWOSU 34-8, to seal up their second GAC win of the season. Freeman led the Bison in scoring for the first time this season, charting 20 points off the bench. Wilcox finished with a season-high 15 points and brought down a team-best 13 boards.
Jordan Thompson produced 14 points off the bench on 4-of-6 shooting.
Jaquan Simms and Tene rounded up OBU's double-digit scorers, tallying 12 and 10 points.
This season, senior
Burke Putnam is the second-leading scorer in the GAC, averaging 20.9 points per game while shooting 44.5 percent from the field. Putnam leads the team in steals (11), is tied for first in assists (22), and ranks second in total rebounds (51).
Jaquan Simms averages 12.3 points per contest, while his 19 made three-pointers lead the squad and rank No. 4 in the conference. In his two games of action,
Jordan Thompson averages 12.5 points per game and has knocked down 4-of-7 from the arc. Sophomore
Trey Green has done a lot of the dirty that won't show up on the stat sheet, averaging 3.4 boards and totaling 10 assists on the season.
Down low, the trio of
Nigel Wilcox,
Justin Tene, and
D.J. Freeman have been prevalent. Freeman averages 9.4 points per game, while Wilcox averages 7.6 points per contest. Wilcox leads the team, ranks fifth in the GAC for total rebounds and is fifth for blocked shots (10) in the league. The shot selection of Freeman and Wilcox has been excellent, ranking them No. 2 and No. 3 in field-goal percentage in the conference. Tene continues to produce valuable minutes for the Bison, shooting 72.4 percent from the floor to average 6.0 points per contest. The big-man totals 37 rebounds and five blocks thus far. Their shooting success prevented the Bison from being outscored in the paint in all but two games this year.
Southeastern enters the weekend 6-1, including a 2-0 conference record. The Savage Storm's sole loss came against Minnesota State-Moorhead in the season-opening GAC/NSIC tournament. SEOSU boasts the best overall record in the league and is in a three-way tie for the top spot in the GAC. Southeastern is the only other GAC member to rank in the Central Region standings, holding a ninth-place spot after receiving votes in last week's poll.
The Savage Storm are coming off wins over Southwestern and Southern Nazarene. Most recently, SEOSU took down the Crimson Storm 82-71 in Durant. SEOSU shot 52 percent and went 7-for-11 from the arc to top the talented SNU squad. Freshman forward Ante Brzovic came off the bench to drop 26 points on 8-of-12 shooting, ultimately earning him GAC Player of the Week honors.
Jett Sternberger leads Southeastern in scoring, averaging 22.7 points per game. That is No. 1 in the GAC and 16th nationally. Sternberger has made 28 three-pointers, which is also first in the conference. Brzovic averages 16.6 per contest, earning all his points from the bench. He totals 64 rebounds this season and is shooting a staggering 63.6 percent from the field. Brzovic ranks first in average rebounds per game (9.1) and sixth for scoring in the conference. Point guard Adam Dorsky is the league's assist leader, dishing out 52 thus far. He totals a team-best 14 steals and averages 14.3 points per contest.
Southeastern is led by Head Coach Kelly Green, who is in his eleventh season with the Savage Storm. Green holds a 157-154-1 overall record, including a 149-136-1 tally at Southeastern. Under his direction, SEOSU has made NCAA Tournament appearances in two out of the last three seasons.
The last time the two met, the Bison beat SEOSU in Shawnee, posting a 39-point second half en route to their 70-57 victory.
Harrison Stoddart led Oklahoma Baptist with 21 points.
