RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – Oklahoma Baptist (10-12, 7-9 GAC) erased a 12-point second-half deficit and drew within one point of Arkansas Tech (16-6,12-4 GAC) with 25 seconds remaining in Saturday's contest inside Tucker Coliseum but couldn't outlast the Wonder Boys who tacked on three points at the free throw line to defeat OBU 82-78.
The Bison outscored Tech 47-43 in the second stanza after trailing by eight at the break, and even lifted its field goal percentage from 46.1 to 53.3 percent. Oklahoma Baptist also shot a season-high 94.1 percent (16-17) from the free throw line, compared to ATU's 8-of-14 (57.1%) tally.
However, a poor percentage from beyond the arc (23.5%) diminished the green and gold's success. Conversely, the league's No. 1 three-point shooting squad knocked down 14-of-22 from deep.
LEADERS
Trevin Wade led OBU with 18 points on 7-of-13 shooting (53.8%), one shy of his season-high in field goal makes. Wade added five assists and four rebounds.
Terry Coner Jr. and Daniel Ransom each scored 16 points. Ransom shot a perfect 8-for-8 from the charity stripe, two less than his season best. Coner also contributed two steals and three assists.
Ricky Brown collected 14 points on 50 percent shooting (5-10) and poked away two steals. Nathan Wilson added eight points and eight boards in 33 minutes of action. Six of Wilson's total came from beyond the arc, a season-high.
FIRST HALF
Legend Barrett gave OBU an early five-point lead after a layup in the paint, but a three-pointer from ATU's Taelon Peter brought the game's margin to two. Down the stretch, the ball clubs stayed close, neither gaining a lead better than five until the 6:54 mark.
Tech's Kade Shaffer sunk a basket on a fast break to grant the opposition a 29-22 advantage.
Arkansas Tech widened its lead to 10 points, 39-29, before Wade put in a layup to bring OBU within eight going into intermission.
SECOND HALF
The Wonder Boy advantage reached 12 points midway through the closing period, courtesy of a 23-17 Tech sprint out the gate.
Then, a Coner free throw at the 8:53 mark sparked a 12-3 OBU run that brought the tally to 65-62. However, Arkansas Tech threw punches right back. ATU expanded its lead back to eight and held it until Oklahoma Baptist threatened late.
In the last 1:23 of action, Ransom sunk five free throws to bring the Bison to within one. However, as mentioned, Tech accounted for three free throws to close out the victory.
NEXT UP
Oklahoma Baptist makes the short trip to Bethany next Thursday for a 7:30 p.m. contest against Southern Nazarene.
