SHAWNEE – Despite a 22-point outing from Paul King, Oklahoma Baptist (0-1, 0-1 GAC) fell 76-67 against Minnesota State-Moorhead (1-0, 0-0 NSIC) on Friday night to open the season and the GAC/NSIC Challenge.
King shined in his Bison debut, coming off the bench to score 16 of his point total in the second half. He paced OBU from beyond the arc with four triples and recorded three steals.
Bradley Akhile trailed with a 15-point performance in his debut, going a perfect 4-for-4 from the charity stripe to go along with four rebounds.
D.J. Freeman and Trey Doomes rounded out the Bison in double figures, recording 11 and 10 points, respectively. Additionally, Freeman brought down a team-best eight rebounds.
The most significant discrepancies on the stat sheet were the margins in rebounds and second-chance points. MSUM out-rebounded OBU 51-27 and hustled to a 25-9 advantage in second-chance opportunities.
Furthermore, the opposition held the lead for nearly 75 percent of the contest, as OBU failed to recover after garnering a one-point advantage late in the first.
Otherwise, the Bison posted a better field goal percentage (41.4%) and committed fewer turnovers.
Oklahoma Baptist jumped out to an early 12-5 lead following an Akhile free throw make four minutes in the first half.
OBU would go 1-7 from the field over the next five minutes, allowing MSUM to go on a 12-6 run to tie the ball game at 17-17 with nine minutes left.
The Bison battled back to take a 22-21 lead, courtesy of a Freeman dunk, but the Dragons surrendered just two baskets en route to a 33-29 advantage going into the break.
Almost two minutes passed before Minnesota State sunk the first points of the second half. Then MSUM mounted a 10-3 run to lead by 10, 36-26, at the 16:39 mark.
Oklahoma Baptist cut its deficit to seven with a little over six minutes remaining, but the Dragons reclaimed its momentum and pulled away to victory.
OBU will complete its time at the conference challenge tomorrow with a matchup against Wayne State College. Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m. inside the Rice Auditorium.
