Box Score OKLAHOMA CITY (Nov. 28, 2014) – In the storied annals of the Oklahoma Christian-Southern Nazarene men's basketball series – now spanning 104 games – the Eagles have both delivered and taken their share of gut punches.
Unfortunately for OC, the Eagles were on the receiving end Friday night. OC, up 16 at halftime, failed to score a basket during the final 5:28, allowing the Crimson Storm to rally for a 59-57 squeaker at the Eagles' Nest.
SNU led for less than three minutes but the Crimson Storm moved to 5-0 for the first time since to 2006-07 season. The big reason why? SNU committed only three turnovers, which (although no records are kept in that category) undoubtedly had to be a program record. OC, by contrast, had 18 turnovers.
"We did a lot of good things," OC coach
Dan Hays said. "We played a great first half. Actually, defensively, we were pretty good the whole game. We shoot 45 percent and they shoot 31 (percent). Not many teams win a game shooting 31 percent, but we turned it over 18 times and were 10-of-17 from the free-throw line."
The Storm's ability to take care of the ball offset its 31.1-percent shooting and OC's 45-33 edge in rebounding, as well as the dominance of OC sophomore center
John Moon, who scored a career-high 22 points to go with nine rebounds, four blocked shots and two assists.
OC's other primary inside player,
Eric Randall, added 15 points, nine rebounds and three assists, but the Eagles weren't able to get the basketball enough to him and Moon in the second half.
"We're a young, developing team," Hays said. "I sound like a record, but it's a fact. Those are all correctable things. … I like our team. I like what we're doing. I'm just sorry that we didn't handle their pressure any better late in the game. Credit Southern Nazarene with being able to turn the heat up and make the plays it needed to late."
The Eagles led 36-20 at halftime, weathered one SNU run and had rebuilt their advantage to 56-45 when Moon scored with 5:28 left. That proved to be OC's last field goal and the Eagles went just 1-of-3 from the free-throw line after that as SNU closed the game on a 14-1 run.
A 3-pointer by Garrett Butler with 1:01 gave the Storm their first lead since the early minutes at 57-56. After Randall missed a 3-point attempt, L.B. Willis hit a pair of free throws with 35.5 seconds left to extend SNU's lead to 59-56.
Moon hit 1-of-2 free throws with 20.1 seconds left, making it 59-57, and after Willis missed two free throws with 14.5 seconds left, the Eagles had a chance. But
Cameron Peters missed a well-guarded runner in the lane and Moon's tip attempt hung on the rim before falling off at the buzzer.
SNU shot just 18.5 percent from the field (18.5 percent) in the first half while OC shot 51.7 percent (15 of 29), allowing the Eagles to build the 16-point lead. OC finished the game at 45.8 percent from the field (22 of 48) and didn't hit a 3-pointer in the second half, missing four attempts.
Francisco Hukill led SNU with 18 points and nine rebounds, while Jared Starkey had 11 points.
Jordan Box added 13 points for OC.
The Eagles must rebound quickly, as they will host Southwestern Christian on Saturday afternoon. Southwestern Christian lost 93-77 to Central Oklahoma earlier Saturday in the classic's opening game.
"We just have to be patient and keep working and hopefully we'll get things corrected and as the year goes on, be a better and better ball club," Hays said.
