SHAWNEE – Oklahoma Baptist returns to the Noble Complex tomorrow evening for a contest with Southwestern Oklahoma State at 3 p.m.
Saturday will be the 139th all-time meeting between the two, with Bison holding a 71-67 series lead. The two met earlier this season on December 4 in Weatherford, where Oklahoma Baptist won 79-67 behind a 20-point effort from freshman D.J. Freeman.
OBU comes in riding a two-game winning streak, beating Henderson State and Ouachita Baptist in their last two matchups. Last Saturday, against the Reddies, the Bison shot a season-best 53.6 percent from the field and knocked down 10 triples in their 90-81 victory in Shawnee.
Much of the triumph can be credited to senior Brantly Thompson, who scored a career-high 28 points. Thompson caught fire late and torched the Reddies for 23 points in the final stanza, including some timely one-on-one three balls when his squad needed it most. By the end, Thompson had notched a half-dozen threes, which tied his career-high. This season, Thompson's 31 three-point makes slot him sixth in the GAC.
Following "down" games by his standards, Burke Putnam is still the leading scorer in the conference, averaging 20.2 PPG. He has reached double-digits in all but one contest this season, including a current streak of 11 straight. If he scores 10-plus against SWOSU, the 12-game, double-digit streak would mark the third-longest since OBU fully joined D2 in 2017-18. During that season, Chandler Rickey scored in double-figures 20 straight times, and in 2018-19, Wade Antonio notched 14-straight games in double-figures. Putnam also leads the team with 25 steals, and ranks second in rebounds.
Southwestern Oklahoma State enters Saturday with a 7-10 overall mark, including a 6-6 conference record, as their four-game winning streak came to an end in their last contest. Their conference record is tied for sixth in the standings with East Central.
Arkansas-Monticello snapped the Bulldogs four-game stretch, beating SWOSU 71-51 in Weatherford on January 29.
SWOSU has struggled in numerous areas this season. It ranks last (12th) in the GAC in field goal percentage (38.7), 12th in three-point field goal percentage defense (37.9), 11th in scoring defense (75.2), and 11th in rebounding defense.
The one, somewhat, bright spot for the Bulldogs is their ability to steal the ball on defense. They are fifth, averaging 6.6 per game. Kamden Gipson leads that front with a team-high 21 steals.
Leading the Bulldogs offense is Damion Thornton. In just 11 games played, he has averaged 20.5 points per contest. That includes two 30-plus points performances, including a season-high 36 against East Central on December 11. Thornton recently became Southwestern's all-time leading scorer, amassing over 1,033 points in his Bulldog career.
Rounding out SWOSU's key contributors is Gipson and Chris Braggs Jr. Gibson ranks second on the team in scoring with 12.4 points per game, while Braggs Jr. is at 11.1.
Southwestern is led by head coach Terry Evans, who is in his fourth year with the Bulldogs. Evans owns a 295-183 career record and 32-59 mark with SWOSU.
