SHAWNEE – The Oklahoma Baptist men's basketball team got its magic number down to one win to clinch the No. 1 seed in the Great American Conference Western Division as the Bison pulled away from Northwestern Oklahoma State for a 76-70 victory.
OBU can clinch the West outright on Monday night with a win over three-time defending champion Southern Nazarene at the Noble Complex.
It took everything they had to knock off a scrappy Ranger squad on Saturday afternoon to set up the Monday night showdown.
The Bison went 26-of-55 (47%) from the field and 10-of-27 (37%) from deep. OBU did a good job at the line, going 14-of-20 (70%), and controlled the boards, out-rebounding Northwestern, 39-32.
The Rangers were 26-of-61 (43%) from the field and a hot 13-of-29 (45%) from deep. The two teams were even in turnovers with OBU finishing with a rare 17 turnovers, their second-highest total this season. OBU held a 33-15 advantage in bench points on the afternoon.
Back-to-back
Trey Green triples opened up a 6-0 lead before an 8-0 run from Northwestern put the Rangers ahead. OBU got the next two buckets from
Jaquan Simms and
Jarius Hicklen, but Northwestern evened it back at 10 apiece in an eventful eight minutes.
This would be a story for most of the game as the two teams exchanged buckets back-and-forth with neither team able to put any sort of distance between one another in the first half.Â
Three-pointers from
Harrison Stoddart,
Jordan Thompson, and Green kept OBU ahead by one before the two squads exchanged triples on four straight possessions as Stoddart and Hicklen each knocked down deep balls.
Down 29-28, OBU rattled off a 7-0 run behind four points from
Justin Tene and another three from Hicklen to snag their biggest lead at 35-29. However, Northwestern scored the final four points to make it a 35-33 game at the break.
OBU scored the first three points of the second half to open a five point lead, but Northwestern responded again including a five point spurt to take a 41-40 lead four minutes into the half.
The Bison retook the lead almost immediately out of the media timeout as
Nigel Wilcox got a lay in off a
Brantly Thompson steal, while Stoddart and Thompson each added two points shots to extend the lead to 46-43.
Northwestern kept responding and testing the Bison, giving them everything they could handle, but Hicklen began to take over the half. Hicklen led a huge 8-0 run midway through the second half as he scored five points during the stretch which included an assist to Tene to make it a 56-48 game.
The Rangers cut it back down to four before a tip in from Green and a 3-pointer from Brantly kept the lead at seven at 61-54. After Northwestern got it down to four, a monster alley oop throw down from Wilcox with under four to play carried the Bison momentum going forward.
Northwestern got it as close as five, but Hicklen was too good, using big shots and free throws down the stretch to get the lead at a game-high 10. The Rangers used some late makes to cut the deficit back down, but it was too little, too late as OBU took home the 76-70 victory.
Hicklen matched a career-high with 23 points on 6 of 7 shooting including three triples while Stoddart added 12 points and 11 rebounds to go with three blocks. Green scored 11 with three 3-pointers of his own while
Brantly Thompson and Wilcox each scored nine with Thompson adding three steals and Wilcox picking up nine rebounds and three blocks.
Tene scored six points off the bench in six minutes and had four rebounds.
Deon Barrett led Northwestern with 17 points while Bubba Furlong had 12 points and 11 rebounds. Arturro Bingham adds 12 points, and Parrish Hewitt scored 11.
OBU moves to 11-4 overall and 11-3 in the GAC and prepares for the showdown with second-place Southern Nazarene, who scored a last-second win over East Central in Ada Saturday. Tip-off between the two rivals is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. inside the Noble Complex.
