SHAWNEE – Sixth-ranked (NABC) and top seed Oklahoma Baptist (27-2) will face off with Southern Nazarene (22-7), the fourth seed, on March 7 at noon in a Great American Conference Tournament semifinal contest.
This will be just the second time the two schools have met in the GAC Tournament. Previously, the Bison defeated the Crimson Storm 77-61 on March 7, 2020 in Bartlesville.
As for this year, OBU won the two regular season matchups against SNU by 72-56 and 84-61 scores. Todd Miller and Dave Myrick will have the call of the game on KGFF beginning at 11:40 a.m. Below are notes on the teams.
For the Bison:
OBU overcame a five-point halftime deficit to defeat Henderson State 85-70 on Thursday. In the second half, the Bison scored 50 points and shot 57 percent overall and 42 from downtown.
That was the sixth time this season OBU had a 50-point half. Furthermore, that was the program's first postseason win since March 3, 2021 when it defeated Ouachita 97-78.
The team is currently on an 18-game winning streak, third-longest in the nation. Also, the team's .931 winning percentage is second-best in school history (2009-10; .944).
Defense for the Bison was key against SNU in the regular season. In two games, the green and gold held the team from Bethany to 28 percent shooting, including 20 percent from deep.
Offensively,
Terry Coner Jr., was unstoppable. He averaged 27 points per game and shot 54.5 percent from the field.
Jackson Greene (19.0) and
Erik Madrid (10.0) also averaged double-figure scoring for the Bison against SNU.
Coach Jason Eaker's thoughts: "We are excited to compete against OBU's number one rival in Southern Nazarene. We are anticipating tomorrow's game will be our toughest game of the season thus far. Nobody is playing better than SNU currently in our region, in my opinion."
For the Crimson Storm:
SNU defeated East Central 89-65 in a tourney quarterfinal on March 6. That was the third-most points the Crimson Storm have scored this year.
Get this: over the last 24:48 minutes of action against ECU, the Storm made 21-of-32 shots, scored 64 points, made 65.6 percent from the field and committed just two turnovers.
Southern Nazarene is very familiar with GAC Tournament semifinal contests. They've won three of the last four they've played in.
Baron Bracey, the team's leading scorer up to this point will look to be better against OBU this time around. He averages a team-high 14.1 points per game but during the regular season, he tallied just 5.5 and shot a mere 2-of-19 (10.5%).
In the previous two games against OBU, James Burries scored a team-high 12.0 points per game while Joe Mpoyo tallied 11.5.
