Box Score FORT SMITH, Ark. (Feb. 20, 2016) – Arkansas-Fort Smith – led by sharpshooting guard Seth Youngblood – made Oklahoma Christian's final road game under longtime coach
Dan Hays a mostly miserable experience.
Youngblood poured in 35 points, making eight 3-pointers along the way, and the Lions led most of the way while beating OC 94-75 on Saturday afternoon at the Stubblefield Center.
OC's hopes of qualifying for the Heartland Conference tournament took a hit with the loss. OC (6-20, 3-15 Heartland) is 2½ games behind St. Mary's (Texas) for the final tournament spot entering the final week of the season.
OC would have to sweep home games next week against St. Edward's (Texas) on Thursday and Texas-Permian Basin on Saturday; have St. Mary's lose its final three games, at home against Dallas Baptist (Texas) on Monday and at Lubbock Christian (Texas) on Thursday and Oklahoma Panhandle State on Saturday; and then hope for the best in a tiebreaker scenario.
On the positive side, OC center
John Moon continued his strong play, finishing with 26 points, nine rebounds and a blocked shot, extending his consecutive-game streak in the latter category to 51 games. With 1,354 career points, Moon moved into 24th place on OC's all-time scoring list, past former teammate
Kendre Talley (2010-14) and Danny Brown (1993-97).
Moon also became the 15th player in OC history to score at least 600 points in a season, finishing the game with 600 on the nose.
Besides Moon, OC also received strong offensive contributions from guards
Daniel Eibel (a career-high 17 points) and
Elijah Strickland (16 points), but it wasn't enough to offset the combo of Youngblood and DaVaunta Thomas, who had 24 points and eight rebounds for UAFS (20-6, 13-5). UAFS shot 53.3 percent from the field and led most of the way.
OC only led in the opening minutes of the game. The Lions took the lead for good at 13-11 on Youngblood's first 3-pointer with 15:28 left in the first half. The Eagles remained within striking distance and trailed only 45-38 at halftime.
A layup by Eibel with 14:16 left pulled OC with 55-52, but Youngblood followed with a pair of 3-pointers and UAFS began pulling away. The Lions led by double digits for the final 11:26.
Youngblood's 35 points matched the second-highest point total in UAFS history. He added eight rebounds for the Lions.
Before the game, UAFS recognized Hays (as Rogers State had done two days before during OC's trip there) for his contributions to basketball. Hays is stepping down as OC's men's basketball coach at season's end.
