Nick Tate recorded his second career double-double, finishing with 16 points and 10 rebounds in OC's 84-72 win at Wayland Baptist.
PLAINVIEW, Texas (Feb. 25, 2012) – Nick Tate recorded his second career double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds and Oklahoma Christian closed the regular season with an 84-72 win over Wayland Baptist (Texas) on Saturday afternoon in the Hutcherson Center.
OC (17-12, 11-11 Sooner Athletic Conference) avenged a 20-point loss earlier this season to the Pioneers and rebounded from a loss two days earlier at Lubbock Christian (Texas). The Eagles finished tied for fifth in the SAC standings with Lubbock Christian and USAO, but will be seeded seventh due to tiebreakers.
OC will play second-seeded Rogers State in the first round on Thursday in Siloam Springs, Ark.
The Eagles shot 56.4 percent (31 of 55) against Wayland Baptist – including 61.5 percent in the second half (16 of 26) and led for the final 22½ minutes of the game. Besides Tate, who went 6-of-7 from the field, two other OC reserves also scored in double figures – Eric Randall with 14 points and Willie Harper with 12 points.
"We really did a tremendous job of bouncing back after a disappointing outcome at Lubbock on Thursday," OC coach Dan Hays said. "It's something we've done all year long. We were focused and we had a tremendous effort from our bench. We really got after it. The second half was outstanding."
Wayland Baptist (12-18, 6-16) led briefly in the first half, but never by more than four points. A layup by OC's Josh Faurot with 2:33 left before halftime put the Eagles ahead for good at 32-30 and they led 35-32 at halftime. It would have been a bigger lead had officials not ruled that Tate's 70-foot heave – which banged off the rim and bounced through the net – came just after the halftime buzzer.
The Pioneers were within 46-45 after a basket by Jamie Eisinger with 13:53 left, but Harper's 3-pointer started an 11-2 OC run that pushed the Eagles' lead to 57-47 and Wayland Baptist came no closer than seven points the rest of the way. OC's biggest lead came at 75-60 after a basket by Randall with 2:13 left.
The Eagles went 7-of-8 from the free-throw line in the final 48 seconds to seal the win.
"We were playing for momentum," Hays said. "It was a good win to propel us into postseason play."
Will Reinke scored 12 points for the Eagles while Kendre Talley had 11 points and four assists. Wayland Baptist also had five players reach double figures in scoring: George Williams and Eisinger (13 points each), Robert Curtis (12) and Bobby Watkins and TJ Jacobs (10 each). The Pioneers shot 39.1 percent (25 of 64).
The loss ended Wayland Baptist's season, as the Pioneers didn't qualify for the SAC tournament. It also ended, for the foreseeable future, the series between OC and Wayland Baptist. OC will leave the SAC after the season and is applying for NCAA Division II membership, while Wayland Baptist is remaining in the SAC and the NAIA.
