SHAWNEE – Finally, it's March. The Oklahoma Baptist men's basketball team (20-8, 17-5 GAC) has a unique opportunity this postseason, earning their highest seed going into the Great American Conference Tournament in the Division II era, hoping to eventually punch a ticket to the championship.
The Bison will take on No. 7 seed Southwestern Oklahoma State, who they swept by scores of 79-67 and 67-62 in the regular season, on Thursday inside the Firelake Arena. Tip-off is scheduled for noon.
The tournament will be streamed live on the GAC Sports Network. The game will be heard on the Bison Sports Network featuring Todd Miller on play-by-play and Scott Wanish on color commentary.
This will be the 140th all-time meeting between the two and the first in the conference tournament since the Bison joined the league. OBU holds a 72-67 overall series record and have won six straight over the Bulldogs.
Oklahoma Baptist is coming off a dominating 76-58 win over East Central, where they used a 45-point second half to fuel their triumph. The Bison finished shooting 43.7 percent and knocked down 11 threes for the second consecutive game.
Senior Brantly Thompson led the Bison with 14 points, including three triples. This capped off a consistent weekend from the Tuttle native, who scored 20 in the loss against Southeastern days before. That total was his fourth 20-point posting of the season and 12th of his career. Thompson needs six three-pointers to reach 250 triples in his career, shooting just over 35 percent as a Bison. Additionally, the senior is 74 points away from 1,500 career points, which would land him eighth on the all-time Bison charts. Teammate Harrison Stoddart is just ahead with 1,433 points. Stoddart is two field-goals away from 500 made buckets in his career, closing in on the mark with a mind-boggling 51.0 career field-goal percentage. From three-point land, Stoddart totals 176, shooting 39.0 percent.
Burke Putnam is putting on one of the most historic seasons in recent OBU hoops history. Putnam finished the regular season with 574 points, the highest in the GAC and 14th most in Division II going into Thursday. He leads the GAC in scoring at 20.5 points per game, which ranks 29th in the nation. Furthermore, he has been named the GAC Player of the Week five times this season, the most of any league player, male or female. His season-best came on senior night when he scored 38 in the win over Southern Arkansas. The Tulsa native inches closer to 2,000 career points, as he needs 85 points to reach the mark.
Southwestern enters Thursday with an 11-16 overall mark, including a 10-12 conference record, that landed them the seventh seed going into the GAC Tournament. Excluding last season's unique COVID format, this is the first time the Bulldogs have been in the GAC Tournament since the 2015-16 season, and it is now the sixth time (or seventh if you count last season) since joining the GAC they have qualified.
As a team, SWOSU makes 8.6 three-pointers per game, ranking them second in the league. Conversely, the squad is shooting 33.1 percent from behind the arc, next to last in the conference, and have allowed the ninth-most amount of points per game (73.3 ppg).
Junior Damion Thorton leads Southwestern, averaging 18.6 points per game and 7.4 rebounds per game. He ranks second and sixth in the GAC in those categories. Thorton was held to six points on 2-of-14 shooting in the game he played against the Bison earlier this season.
Guard Kamden Gipson is the Bulldogs' second-leading scorer at 11.2 points per game, shooting 35 percent from the floor. He ranks fourth in the GAC in assists per game, averaging 3.6, and leads the team from three-point land with 50 triples. Chris Braggs Jr. rounds off the Bulldogs in double digits, averaging 10.0 per contest. He ranks second on the team in free throws (86) and steals (28).
If the Bison defeat SWOSU, they'll play the winner of (3) Northwestern Oklahoma State (20-8, 15-7 GAC) and (6) Southern Arkansas (17-11, 13-9 GAC) on Saturday at 2:15 p.m.
