CLAREMORE, Okla. (Feb. 5, 2009) – No. 1 Rogers State University (Okla.) turned a one-point halftime lead into a 70-56 victory over No. 17 Oklahoma Christian University in Northeast Oklahoma on Thursday night.
The loss is Oklahoma Christian's third straight as the Eagles dropped to 16-7 overall and 9-6 in the Sooner Athletic Conference. Rogers State won for the seventh-straight time to improve to 20-1 and 14-1.
Three Eagles scored in double figures led by Jason Taylor's 18-point night. David Jackson had 12 points and Jeff Crocker finished with 10.
Nobody told the Eagles that no one had beat the Hillcats this season inside the Claremore Expo Center. OC fought RSU to the final buzzer, but a big second-half start for the home team was too much to overcome.
An ultra-competitive first half culminated with an Eric Young putback at the halftime buzzer that put the Hillcats ahead 33-32 at the break.
The first period saw five lead changes – including three in the final 1:22 – and three ties, as OC handled RSU's aggressive defense and up-tempo style.
OC took its first lead at 10-9 when Jackson knocked down a three pointer with 14:03 to play. Then after RSU led by as many as six points (18-12), OC worked on the deficit and went back up 27-25 on a Taylor putback with 3:54 left.
The Hillcats were on top 31-29 with under a minute when Kyle Tefft sunk a guarded NBA-range three pointer at the 49-second point to give the Eagles the upper hand again. But Young's layup completed the half with RSU up by one point.
Taylor had 14 in the first half to lead all scorers. Deveric Taylor was the leading Hillcat scorer with 12.
RSU began to flex its muscles in the second half. The Hillcats outscored the Eagles 30-10 in the first 14 minutes of the stanza and led by as many as 21 points.
OC didn't completely go away though. The Eagles used a 10-0 rally to nip RSU's lead down to 11 points by the 3:43 mark.
Crocker made two free throws to start the jaunt (6:07), then Jon Jonsson put in an and-one layup (5:42) before Jackson got a transition layup (4:43), and a straightaway three pointer (3:43) that made it 63-52 RSU.
Then Michael Nkollo sunk a triple with five seconds on the clock to make the final score 70-56. The 14-point win was second-closest game the Hillcats have played at the Claremore Expo Center in 2008-09, trailing only a 71-69 win over John Brown (Ark.).
RSU's Taylor matched his namesake for OC with 18 points on 4-of-9 three-point shooting. No other Hillcats reached double figures, but five players scored at least six points.
The last time OC lost three-straight games they rebounded to win six in a row. The Eagles will try to start a similar run when they play JBU at 8 p.m. on Saturday inside the Eagles' Nest.
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