SHAWNEE – The Oklahoma Baptist Bison (1-2, 0-0 GAC) flew higher than the Missouri Western Griffons (1-2, 0-0 MIAA) in its home-court opener as a second-half surge lifted OBU to a 78-67 win inside the Noble Complex on Thursday night.
To start, the Griffons played a solid defensive game, forcing the Bison to fight the shot clock in its first few possessions. With this, the first Oklahoma Baptist points didn't come until a jumper from sophomore Paul King – putting the game at 4-2. This stoked the OBU offensive fire for the rest of the quarter.
King stood as the Bison's highest scorer for the stanza with three field goals and two three-pointers. Senior Trey Doomes followed suit with three field goals and four free throws.
But five three-pointers by Missouri Western's Reese Glover kept the Griffons in the lead. Though OBU had closed the gap with a 9-3 run, by the break, the board read 35-39. For the first, MWSU shot 50 percent from the floor, while the Bison posted a 46.4 percent shooting clip.
Oklahoma Baptist took its home floor with a vengeance in the second half. Doomes kicked off the stanza with a jumper and a quick layup after a steal and a free throw. With this, Doomes single-handedly knotted the match at 43-43 for the half.
Shortly after, the first lead of the contest was secured with a three-point shot by Trey Green. By 11:52, OBU found itself in foul trouble with Doomes at three personal fouls and DJ Freeman at four. With this in mind, the Bison had to tread lightly on the defensive front.
After a failed Doomes free throw attempt, Green secured his second three-pointer off the rebound to the score 54-54. On the heels of the action, junior Ricky Brown set Freeman up for a successful layup.
With this, Oklahoma Baptist took the lead and maintained it for the rest of the second.
Doomes and Green registered career highs, scoring 25 and 17 points, respectively. Doomes shot 8-14 from the field and tallied five boards, while Green's four three-pointers were a career-best.
Paul King and DJ Freeman rounded out the Bison in double figures with 14 and 11-point totals. Freeman added game-highs in rebounds (8) and blocks (2).
Next for Oklahoma Baptist is a game against Oral Roberts University (2-2, 0-0 Summit League) in Tulsa, Okla. Tip-off is set for Saturday, Nov. 19 at 7 p.m.
