SHAWNEE, Okla. (Feb. 26, 2011) – The Oklahoma Christian men's basketball team fell to a heartbreaking 73-72 loss against No. 10 ranked Oklahoma Baptist University on Saturday night for their final regular season game.
Despite the Bison taking the lead first, the OC men stayed right on their heels and tied things up 8-8 at 15:25 on the clock. Chad Endres quickly followed the tie with a trey to give the Eagles a three-point lead directly before Andre Vaughn made it five.
The first half kept things close as the two squads battled for the lead. Six lead changes and two ties followed as the clock ticked down.
With 6:47 showing on the clock, Jeff Crocker sunk a three to put the Eagles back in the lead. OC took a seven-point lead on a trey from Ross Morrisett with 3:04 left to take the largest lead of the game.
The Bison responded, however, outscoring the Eagles 6-1 in the final minutes to close the OC gap to just a single point before time ran out. The Eagles held the lead at 34-33 as they headed into halftime.
As the second half got underway, the Eagles managed to hold the Bison back and kept a margin of at least two points through the first ten minutes.
After numerous efforts, the OBU men finally managed to retake the lead with a one-point advantage at 8:11 on the clock. Over the next five minutes, the lead changed seven times and the score was tied up on two occasions.
With 3:14 remaining, OC's Devan White put up two points to give the Eagles a one-point lead. With consecutive critical baskets from Will Reinke and Endres, the Eagles led by five with 49 seconds left on the clock.
Despite a successful trey from the Bison, the Eagles pushed the lead back to five with free throws from Reinke and Crocker and with just 17 seconds to play. Another three from the Bison at 12 seconds on the clock brought them again within just two points.
After the Eagles came up short on two free throw attempts with eight seconds left, a last second trey from the Bison took the win from the Eagles as OBU claimed the one-point 73-72 victory.
Reinke led the Eagles for the evening with 16 points and 11 rebounds for yet another double-double performance. White added another 14 points to the mix while Endres tallied 11 pionts, four rebounds and three assists.
Vaughn and Crocker both helped out as well with nine points apiece, while Randall helped control the ball down low with nine rebounds.
The loss leaves the Eagles with a final regular season record of 17-12 and a conference record of 11-11. The OC men will join the women as the two teams look next to the Sooner Athletic Conference tournament with the first round scheduled to start Thursday.
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