WEATHERFORD, Okla. – Oklahoma Baptist had more than enough answers for Southwestern Oklahoma State's defensive sets and in turn earned an 91-73 victory at the Pioneer Cellular Event Center on Thursday in Great American Conference men's basketball action.
Paul King was sensational, scoring 36 points on 11-of-16 shooting while freshman
Ethan Scott had some timely first-half three-balls to help the Bison. Plus, senior
Nigel Wilcox added 13 points in his season debut while
Trey Doomes filled the stat sheet. Doomes tallied 11 points, a team-high six assists and five rebounds.
Furthermore,
D.J. Freeman went for 16 points, eight rebounds and three blocks, a game-high.
The first half was extremely competitive with eight lead changes and two ties. King's three at the 8:11 mark had the Bison up 27-23 but the hosts came back with an 8-3 run highlighted by a two-handed dunk by Ben Smith. That basket moved the scoreboard to 31-30 Bulldogs.
After that spurt, OBU responded. Wilcox scored four points, the last of which, an alley-oop from Doomes, moved the Bison ahead 37-31.
By halftime, it was the green and gold leading 41-37. OBU shot 60.9 percent in the first half while SWOSU connected at a 41.9 percent clip. In addition to the Bison's solid shooting, the defensive effort from freshman
Joshua Udoumoh paid dividends.
Crafty Bulldog guard Kamden Gipson made two of his first three shots, but after moving Udoumoh on to Gipson, the SWOSU player made one of his next six.
As for King, he had 17 points heading to the locker room.
In the second half, about seven minutes in, the teams went back and forth. There were four lead changes in a 90-second span. The last of those, a Freeman dunk on another Doomes assist, gave the Bison a 54-53 lead with 13:03 remaining. After that, OBU never lost the lead again.
A bit later, OBU went on its game-clinching run. Following a Doomes free throw which made the score 67-64, the Bison scored 11 of the next 13 points. King scored six of those points and by the 4:36 mark, it was 78-66.
By the end of the game, the Bison had shot 60.4 percent from the field, assisted on 19 of its 32 made field goals and hit 21 free throws.
Next on the schedule is a home date with Northwestern Oklahoma State on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.
