SHAWNEE - The Oklahoma Baptist men's basketball team looks to extend its five game winning streak with a trio of games beginning on Thursday against Northwestern Oklahoma State followed by a Saturday afternoon meeting with Southeastern Oklahoma State inside the Noble Complex. OBU will close this round of games on Monday against rival Southern Nazarene.
Saturday's game will be on the Bison Sports Network on the
OBU YouTube channel featuring Todd Miller on play-by-play and Scott Wanish on color commentary. The game will also be featured on the
Bison Radio Network across the state of Oklahoma and on the iHeartRadio app. On Thursday and Monday, the Bison's contest will be on the Bison Radio Network with Miller and Wanish.
OBU comes in at 6-3 overall and 6-2 in the GAC, sitting in first place by 1.5 games in the Western Division.
Though the offense has come on strong, it has been the OBU defense that has been a testament to the recent winning streak. The Bison are the top-ranked team in the GAC and 14th in the nation in field goal defense as they hold opponents to 40.1 percent per game and also lead the conference in rebounds with 342. OBU is also first in blocked shots and blocked shots per game.
Offensively, the Bison have began to turn it on as they lead the conference in total assists (138) and are fourth in scoring margin this year. The shooting has come alive as well as OBU has over 10 3-pointers in three of the last five games.
Last week, OBU moved into first place in the GAC after wins over Southern Nazarene and Southwestern Oklahoma State at home, two teams that were in first coming into their contest, before earning a hard fought defensive slugfest in Ada on Saturday afternoon.
Brantly Thompson is 18 points away from 1,000 career points and comes off a huge weekend where he was named Great American Conference Player of the Week. Thompson averaged 19.6 points per game while shooting a red-hot 14-25 (56%) from behind the arc. Thompson had two 20+ games against SNU and SWOSU and added four assists per game while hitting numerous clutch shots in all three contests.
Thompson checks in with 14.4 points per game behind
Jarius Hicklen, who leads the team with 15.2 points per game, and
Harrison Stoddart, who comes into Thursday with 14.8 points per game, 6.4 rebounds per game, and over a block per contest.
Not to be outdone,
Nigel Wilcox put together a tremendous weekend of his own including back-to-back double doubles, going for 13 points and 13 rebounds against SWOSU before following with 17 points and 13 boards against East Central including eight straight points late in the second half to bring the Bison from behind.
Wilcox comes in with 7.9 points per game, 8.3 rebounds per game, and leads the team in blocks with 16.
Jaquan Simms adds 10.2 points per game while
Jordan Thompson poured in 9.3 points per game with both averaging over three assists per game.
Trey Green leads the team in steals with eight this season.
Northwestern Oklahoma State will meet OBU for the first time after their first two contests were canceled due to COVID issues within the program. The Rangers sit at 2-4 overall and 0-4 in the GAC as they continue to try and get to full strength.
Parrish Hewitt leads the Rangers with 14.2 points per game and 6.0 rebounds per contest while RJ Mason adds 13.0 points per game. Deon Barrett adds 11.7 points per game and over four assists while Bubba Furlong averages 10.5 points per game and 11.3 rebounds per contest.
OBU meets Southeastern for the third time on Saturday as they have two double digit wins over the Savage Storm, winning 73-59 to open the home season in Shawnee before earning their first win in Durant since 1994, defeating SE 82-70 two weeks ago. The Savage Storm sit at 4-5 overall and in the GAC
Adam Dworsky leads the team with 19.7 points per game to go with over seven assists per game while Vadim Clanet adds 13.2 points per game and 6.2 rebounds per game. Bobby Johnson pours in 11.9 points per game. Kellen Manek has still not returned since the first contest against OBU.
OBU and SNU have split the season series at one a piece as the Crimson Storm check in at 5-4 overall and in conference. SNU got the better of OBU in Bethany with a 65-49 win early in January before OBU responded in Shawnee two weeks ago with a 73-58 win.
Adokiye Iyaye leads the way with 17.9 points per game and has been hot lately offensively. Manny Dixon adds 15.6 points per game and 6.3 rebounds per contest while Mo Wilson II 10.3 points per game, 6.3 rebounds per game, 18 steals, and 13 blocks.
Thursday's contest in Alva as well as Monday in Bethany is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. while Saturday's tip-off in Noble is set for 4:00 p.m. The GAC passed a policy earlier this week where student-athletes and non-student coaching staff may invite up to four guests to attend home contests.
