Box score
OC-SNU hoops highlights
OC-SNU hoops postgame
LUBBOCK, Texas (March 5, 2009) – Chad Endres' backdoor layup with 12 seconds left broke a tie and gave Oklahoma Christian University a 71-69 win over Southern Nazarene University (Okla.) in the quarterfinals of the Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament on Thursday.
The dramatic win advances the Eagles to tomorrow's semifinal, where they will play the winner of Thursday night's Oklahoma Baptist University vs. Science and Arts of Oklahoma contest. The semifinal will tip at 8 p.m. Friday night at Lubbock Christian University's Rip Griffin Center.
On Thursday, Southern Nazarene's Deonta Black scored a reverse layup with 21 seconds to play to tie the game. Then Oklahoma Christian set its offense with point guard Jeff Crocker, and Endres swept baseline past his defender and laid in the game winner with two hands off the glass. The Eagles forced a deep three from Brandon Durham on the other end, and time expired before the long rebound was secured.
"My man was overplaying me, and Coach Hays always tells us the back cuts are there," Endres said. "It feels really cool to hit the shot in such a big game to get us to the next round. It's really big."
OC erased an 11-point second-half deficit for the victory, which is the Eagles' third over SNU this season. The Eagles are now 23-8 on the year.
"In Coach Hays and my 20 years together, I don't think there's ever been a team show that much toughness. This team has gone past every expectation anyone has had for them. We've battled injuries and difficulties all season, and this group has bonded through it. I really don't know how to express it in words, but I don't know how many of these I have left, and I certainly didn't want this to be the last one," OC associate head coach Curtis Janz said. Janz has taken the OC athletic director job and he's in his final year on the Eagle bench.
The Eagles took a 31-30 lead at halftime after leading for the final 16:42 of the first half. SNU led briefly in the opening two minutes, but after Jason Taylor scored inside (9-7) at the 16:42 mark, OC never trailed again in the period.
The Eagles grabbed their biggest lead at 31-24 when Kyle Tefft swished a three pointer with 4:20 on the clock. But OC didn't score again in the period, and the Crimson Storm closed to within one point at intermission.
SNU took advantage of a 13-to-1 free-throw attempt advantage in the first half by making 12 at the line. The Eagles countered with 45-percent shooting from the floor (13-for-29), and 40-percent accuracy from behind the arc (4-of-10). Taylor had nine points in the first half, and Jon Jonsson added eight.
The Crimson Storm hit four triples in the first five minutes of the second stanza as part of an 18-8 run. The rally helped SNU construct a 48-39 lead by the 14:18 mark.
Endres scored five-straight points to get OC back within four at 48-44 with 13:35 left. Then SNU rattled off seven unanswered to take a double-digit lead at 55-44.
But that's when OC reeled off a 10-1 spurt to get right back in it. Taylor gave the crowd a glimpse of why he was the SAC Player of the Year with six points in a 1:30 span to get the Eagles within five points (55-50). Moments later, he snagged an offensive rebound and found David Jackson in the lane for a score to nudge the Eagles within three at 55-52 (9:11).
The Storm jumped back out to a six-point cushion with four quick Durham points (62-56), before another 10-1 OC rally gave the lead back to the Eagles.
Crocker found Tefft in transition to start the push, then back-to-back defensive rebounds from Endres yielded a Taylor conventional three pointer, and a go-ahead triple from Crocker that gave OC a 64-63 edge with three minutes to play. Taylor finally capped the run with a guarded baseline jumper (66-63) with 2:18 to play.
SNU refused to go away though, and Black scored consecutive transition hoops at the 1:20 and 42-second points to vault the Storm back ahead 67-66.
After a timeout, Tefft hit one of the biggest shots of this four-year Eagle career with a straightaway three that jumped OC right back on top 69-67 with only 33 seconds left. After Black's hoop on the Storm side, the Eagles countered with Endres' heroics to end the game.
Taylor led all scorers with 26 points on 10-of-18 shooting. The junior added eight rebounds and four assists. Tefft had 14 points and five rebounds, while Jonsson went for 12 points and five boards. Crocker charted eight points and six assists, and Endres scored seven.
Durham paced the Storm with 24 points, while Black finished with 14.
The Eagles shot 53 percent as team with a 27-of-51 effort from the floor. OC also buried 7-of-15 three-point tries for 47 percent, and made good on 9-of-9 free throws.
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