OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. (Feb. 12, 2011) – The Oklahoma Christian men's basketball team gave in to a persistent No. 13 Southern Nazarene University (Okla.) squad as the Eagles fell 74-69 in overtime on Saturday night.
As things got underway, the Eagles showed no fear to the No. 13 ranked Crimson Storm as they rarely trailed throughout all of regulation.
Andre Vaughn got the ball rolling for the Eagles with the first basket of the game shot from behind the arc to give OC an early 3-0 lead. OC's had no problem stopping Southern Nazarene on defense and took to a 7-0 lead before the Crimson Storm scored their first basket.
After the SNU men closed the gap to two points at 7-5, the Eagles' Devan White and Chad Endres put up back to back treys to put OC at an eight-point margin with 13:13 left in the half.
In response, however, the SNU men put together a 10-0 run to lead the Eagles by two with 6:35 left until the half.
Following SNU's lead, the OC men quickly got back on top with six unanswered points to lead 19-15.
After SNU tied things up at 21-21, the Eagles put up a 10-0 run to lead the Crimson Storm 31-21 heading into halftime.
As the second half began, the Eagles continued to batter the Crimson Storm as they quickly pushed to a 14-point margin less than two minutes in. With the clock counting down, SNU continually tried to retaliate, but were unable to close the OC gap to less than eight points until 9:55 remained when they cut it to seven.
One minute later, however, OC's Jeff Crocker sunk a three pointer to put the Eagles back at a double-digit lead.
With 7:00 showing on the clock, the Eagles led by eight, but a talented SNU squad put up a 12-2 run to take the lead by two at 63-61 with just 3:20 left to play.
After two minutes of scoreless play, Crocker tied things back up for the Eagles, but a foul put OC behind by two with under a minute till the buzzer.
At 37 seconds to play, a drive by Endres drew the foul and allowed Endres to tie things up with two good free throws. A final attempt to score by the Crimson Storm came up short taking the game into overtime at 65-65.
During the overtime period, the Eagles never led after the Crimson Storm took the first lead with two good free throws. With 3:28 on the clock, OC's Will Reinke dunked it in to tie things up once again at 67-67.
The SNU men regained the lead shortly thereafter and never gave it up. A three-point basket by the Crimson Storm set the Eagles back by four points with 1:41 left on the clock. A single free throw from Reinke cut the lead back to three, but a last attempt to score by the Eagles came up unsuccessful leaving SNU to two final free throws to take the game with a 74-69 victory.
Endres led the Eagles' scoring for the night with 19 total points. Vaughn tallied another 16 points to help out the Eagles while Reinke put up 14 points, made five assists, and grabbed nine rebounds in the process from down low.
Guards Crocker and White came away with solid contributions as well with Crocker registering 10 points and six assists while White sunk six points, made five rebounds, and had four assists.
The overtime loss leaves the Eagles to a 14-11 overall record and an 8-10 record for conference play. The OC men will join the women as they stay at home for their next game on Thursday against Lubbock Christian University (Texas). The women's game is scheduled to tip off at 6 p.m. with the men's to follow at 8 p.m.
-OC-
