Box Score OKLAHOMA CITY (Feb. 15, 2016) – John Moon played like the best player in the Heartland Conference with another yeoman's effort in a basketball season full of them, but Oklahoma Christian fell agonizingly short of pulling off what would have been a head-turning upset on Monday night.

Moon scored 32 points, grabbed a career-high 18 rebounds and blocked three shots, but league-leading Dallas Baptist (Texas) – ranked third in NCAA Division II's South Central Region – hung on for a 62-59 overtime win over OC in the Eagles' Nest.

The Eagles came up empty on their final three possessions, while Dallas Baptist (19-5, 13-3 Heartland) went 4-of-4 from the free-throw line in the last 66 seconds, with Jonathan Perry putting the Patriots ahead 60-59 with 1:06 left, then Amari Bryant putting his team up by three points with 3.3 seconds left.

OC had a final chance to tie, but Jordan Rutherford's long pass from the baseline into the frontcourt was intercepted by Dallas Baptist's Patrick Burke as time expired. The Eagles fell despite holding Dallas Baptist more than 25 points below its per-game scoring average.

"Our inability to hold our home court is puzzling," OC coach Dan Hays said. "Back in the day, our crowd would have willed us to that win. … But I thought we played really well. We had a couple of key free-throw misses at crucial times that really hurt us, but it was a very, very good effort by our guys. They played very hard. We certainly weren't outscrapped.

"We've had a lot of these. We'd just like to get us one now and then, just to get that feeling."

Neither team led by more than eight points, and that came early, as OC sprinted to leads of 8-1 and 18-10, the latter after a dunk by Moon with 10:41 left in the first half. The Eagles never trailed in the first half, but the game was tied 26-26 at halftime.

The Patriots led by four points on three occasions in the second half, but couldn't pull away despite a mostly clean game with only eight turnovers. Moon gave OC a 52-51 lead with a three-point play with 1:43 left, but Joey Miller answered with two free throws 13 seconds later to put the Patriots back on top.

Moon scored again with 1:13 left to put OC up 54-53. Perry hit 1-of-2 free throws at the other end with 13.4 seconds left and the Eagles rebounded, but managed only a rushed long jumper by Elijah Strickland at the buzzer.

Moon and Chiza Ntirata each missed the front end of a one-and-one free-throw opportunity for OC during overtime, but the Eagles' defense kept the game close. Another three-point play by Moon gave the Eagles a 59-58 lead with 1:25 left, but Perry's two free throws 19 seconds later provided the last of 11 lead changes.

Moon missed a rushed hook shot in the final minute and Burke blew a wide-open layup with about 17 seconds left. Daniel Eibel's jumper was short and Miller rebounded for the Patriots and might have stepped out of bounds, but game officials looked at the replay and ruled that Dallas Baptist would retain possession with 3.9 seconds left.

OC immediately fouled Bryant, who made both free throws.

The Eagles held Dallas Baptist to 33.8 percent field-goal shooting (22 of 65) and 18.2 percent 3-point shooting (4 of 22), but OC shot just 37.5 percent from the field (24 of 64) and 6.3 percent from 3-point range (1 of 16).

Moon was the only OC player to reach double figures in scoring, but Ntirata grabbed 11 rebounds to go with six points. Miller led the Patriots with 14 points, while Perry and Bryant each scored 11.

Moon increased his leads in Heartland Conference statistics in scoring, rebounding and blocked shots and is poised to become only the second player in the Division II league's history to lead it in three major stat categories. OC's Kendre Talley did so two seasons ago in scoring, assists and steals.

"John Moon is hands-down the best player in this conference," Hays said. "Now, how will the coaches in our conference vote, when you've got a team that's 10th in the league? Will they hold that against John? I would just say he's the most game-planned-for player I've ever coached. I've never seen a guy doubled and tripled as much as him and continue to put up great numbers. He should be the player of the year in the league. Would I be surprised if he's not? No, I won't."

Coach Hays on the game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbfnykwkgYw&feature=youtu.be