Box Score
ALVA, Okla. (Dec. 4, 2007) - Oklahoma Christian clawed back from a 12-point halftime deficit to upend No. 24 Northwestern Oklahoma State 66-61 Tuesday night.
A late 9-2 run fueled OC's first Sooner Athletic Conference victory of the season. The Eagles snapped a four-game losing streak in moving to 1-2 in the SAC and 4-6 overall. Northwestern dropped to 2-1 and 5-2.
"It's a great win. We're going to really enjoy this," OC head coach Dan Hays said. "Northwestern is a good team. I'm really proud of my guys. It was a tremendous team effort."
The Eagles wasted no time slicing into their 35-23 halftime deficit, getting driving layups from David Jackson, Jeff Crocker and Jason Taylor to make it 35-30 just 1:12 into the second half.
Northwestern answered with an 8-2 run and went up 43-32 on Shane Hansen's right-wing trey at the 15:40 mark. But the Rangers went the next six minutes without a field goal, and Kyle Tefft's putback with 11:00 left pulled the Eagles within 45-44.
A Brandon Brown trey pushed NWOSU's advantage to 49-44, but back-to-back three-pointers from Taylor and Crocker gave OC its first lead since early in the game at 50-49 with 8:33 left.
The lead seesawed back and forth over the next four minutes before the Eagles took the lead for good with 4:13 left. The go-ahead score came on a Tefft putback of a Jackson layup. Tefft was fouled on the play and made his free throw for a 56-54 OC edge.
Three Taylor free throws and a deep Jackson three-pointer extended the Eagles' lead to 62-56 at the 2:11 mark. Taylor scored inside to make it 64-56, but Ricky Burny's three-point play and a Snyder putback cut OC's lead to 64-61 with 1:03 remaining.
The Eagles held off two Ranger opportunities in the final minute, including Burny's would-be tying trey with 4.6 seconds left. Taylor grabbed the rebound and converted two free throws on the other end to clinch the win.
Taylor scored 25 points and grabbed 12 rebounds to lead both teams in both categories. Tefft totaled 13 points and nine rebounds and Crocker added 11 points for Oklahoma Christian. Brown (18 points) and Snyder (15 points) paced the Rangers.
The Eagles are off until their Jan. 3 game at St. Gregory's (Okla.).
