SHAWNEE – Oklahoma Baptist was down nine points with a mere 98 seconds left but thanks to some Southern Arkansas fouling and and-one conversions, the Bison escaped with an 82-79 Great American Conference win on Saturday.
OBU improved to 5-3 overall and 2-0 in the GAC with the result.
In a highly-entertaining contest, the game featured seven ties and five lead changes, showcasing high-level competitiveness in this matchup.
First-half action saw each team attain leads off at least six points. SAU started the first couple of minutes with a trio of three-pointers and had a 9-2 advantage after a Carel Ray Jr. long ball. After that, OBU had to chip away at the visitor's lead.
The green and gold did that and finally tied the game at 25-25 after four straight free throws from
Efe Sekeroglu and
JC Curry. A few minutes later, Sekeroglu fed
Ricky Brown on a left-wing three-ball and that shot boosted OBU's lead to 34-28 at the 2:41 mark. By halftime, OBU led 39-35 and had scored seven more free throws (8-1) and had an 11-4 second-chance points advantage.
After halftime, the second stanza was awfully close until down the stretch. In fact, SAU started to pull away. At the 2:36 mark, BJ Davis hit a step-back three and lifted the Muleriders ahead 73-65.
SAU then gained a 75-66 advantage following two free throws by Ray Jr. with 1:55 left. Once more, Southern Arkansas built another nine-point lead, 77-68, following another freebie, this time by Nevi Tell.
After that, magic happened.
Ethan Scott converted a rare, four-point play after burying a three from the top of the key and making the subsequent free throw. That brought the score to 77-72 with 1:26 left. On the next possession,
Nathan Wilson converted and and-one after a foul by Christian Caldwell. Not to be outdone, Curry got into the rally with a left-side drive that resulted in layup, foul and another free throw. That point brought the tally to 79-78.
SAU came up empty on its next offensive possession which set the stage for
Terry Coner Jr. The sophomore from Birmingham went one-on-one and scored an acrobatic layup along the left side to give OBU the lead.
That one-point advantage, 80-79, would hold as SAU's BJ Davis missed a contested three around the top of the arc with less than two seconds left. Then,
Daniel Ransom made two clutch free throws for the final tally. Davis would fire another three, this one inside of a second, but it sailed wide, and the Bison stormed their Noble Complex court in jubilation.
Next on the schedule for OBU is a home date with Southeastern Oklahoma State on Dec. 12.
