SHAWNEE – The Oklahoma Baptist men's basketball team (14-6, 11-3 GAC) wins their third straight game, outlasting Southwestern Oklahoma State (7-11, 6-7 GAC) 67-62 for a second time this season on Saturday evening inside the Noble Complex.
OBU held off a resilient SWOSU squad that threatened late but hardly had any real effect as the home team dominated almost every statistical category.
Oklahoma Baptist finished shooting 45.6 percent from the field while holding Southwestern to 32.4 percent and a 36.4 clip from three-point range.
The Bison edged the Bulldogs on the glass 42-41, accumulating much of their total on the defensive boards. The glaring difference was the points in the paint margin, as OBU racked up 32 and held SWOSU to a mere 18.
Through 10 minutes of play, Oklahoma Baptist built a 16-12 lead, including a team-high five points from senior Jaquan Simms. Shortly afterward, Simms would hit his second three of the contest to extend the OBU advantage to 24-14.
Over the next five minutes, SWOSU was held to 2-of-7 from the floor as Simms capped off the Bison stretch with his third triple of the half to put OBU up 33-22.
Southwestern responded with a 9-5 run, involving three straight from deep, to cut their deficit to four going into intermission, 35-31.
Oklahoma Baptist came out of the break on a 5-0 run to push their advantage to nine, but the Bulldogs never went away as the game progressed.
SWOSU came within two at 10:24, capping off a 9-2 stretch over two minutes, threatening to overlap the Bison for the first time in the game.
After that, the Bulldogs mounted a subtle comeback, chipping at OBU to trail by two at 3:13. OBU shut the door of opportunity as Burke Putnam stole a pass late to wrap up tonight's victory.
Oklahoma Baptist posted a balanced shooting evening with three Bison reaching double-digits. Simms led the way with 13 points, 11 coming in the first half, while Harrison Stoddart went for 11 with five assists.
Burke Putnam collected 10 points to chart his 12th straight double-double, which becomes the third-longest double-double streak by a Bison player in the Division II era.
Nigel Wilcox brought down a team-high nine boards while Brantly Thompson grabbed five to go with nine points.
Kamden Gibson led the Bulldogs with a 16-point effort while teammate Jaylan Williams scored 12, including four three-pointers.
Oklahoma Baptist will have one day of rest before hosting Arkansas Tech on Monday, Feb. 7 at 6 p.m. The contest will be a makeup from the Jan. 8 postponement.
