Box Score OKLAHOMA CITY (Jan. 21, 2017) – A banged-up and depleted Oklahoma Christian basketball team, playing without its leader, refused to quit and came oh-so-close to finishing off what would have been a memorable comeback on Saturday against Lubbock Christian (Texas).

But time eventually ran out on the Eagles, allowing Lubbock Christian to escape the Eagles' Nest with a 75-72 win after Marcus Mathieu's half-court heave at the buzzer brushed the net but fell just short.

OC (6-11, 1-8) lost despite a stellar night from its starting backcourt, as Mathieu scored a career-high 21 points and Elijah Strickland added 20, helping make up for the absence of leading scorer Keilan Horton due to injury.

"Our guys tonight, I thought it was our best game the last three weeks, especially at home, where he had another good environment and a good team," OC coach Cory Cole said. "We made some plays in the game that we hadn't made the last three weeks. Yes, we're losing games, but I think we're making better plays now."

OC played for much of the game without Cole, after official Grady Dale called two quick technical fouls on the coach – within seconds of each other – with 12:56 left in the first half. The technicals came after Cole had respectfully disagreed with a call, not raising his voice in doing so. Associate head coach Terril Hankins guided the OC bench the rest of the way.

The Chaparrals' Ridrell Holman made three of the four free throws awarded after Dale's two technical fouls on Cole, turning a 17-14 OC lead into a 17-17 tie. On the subsequent possession, Holman made a 3-pointer and Lubbock Christian (11-7, 5-3) never trailed again.

Lubbock Christian led 32-27 at halftime and built a 41-28 advantage after Brennen Fowler's basket with 17:24 left. An 11-2 run by OC – featuring two 3-pointers by Strickland and another by Mathieu – pulled the Eagles within 43-39, and a 3-pointer by Dorian Lopez less than a minute later cut the Chaparrals' lead to 45-42.

After LCU pushed the lead back to eight points, OC rallied again and came within 54-52 with 8:29 left after four consecutive free throws by Jaquan Dupree. Fowler answered with a three-point play and Marcus Arrington hit a 3-pointer to give Lubbock Christian some breathing room at 60-54 with 7:16 left.

OC stayed close, but wasn't able to again cut the lead to two points until Mathieu hit two free throws with 10.2 seconds left to make it 71-69. Tyler Rogers hit two free throws for LCU with :08 left before Jordan Box swished a 3-pointer for OC with 2.9 seconds left, pulling the Eagles within 73-72.

Strickland immediately fouled Holman, who made two free throws with 2.6 seconds left to cap a 16-point, nine-rebound performance. Without a timeout, Mathieu made it only to midcourt before he had to shoot.

Lopez and John Moon each had 10 points for OC. Moon's amazing streak of consecutive games with at least one blocked shot ended at 69, however, as the 7-foot senior did not record a block against the Chaparrals. It was the first time he'd gone without a block since the opening game of his sophomore season, against Dallas Christian (Texas) on Nov. 15, 2014.

"That record will never be touched or broken," Cole said. "John does so many things. He should get credit for altered shots – he definitely had three or four of those that I saw. To have a streak like that at the NCAA level is huge."

Moon holds the Heartland's career record for blocks with 208 and ranks third on OC's career list, which is topped by Micah Miles with 229.

Arrington and Fowler added 15 points each for Lubbock Christian, while Rogers had 13.

The Eagles will return to action on Thursday, hosting Newman (Kan.) as the second round of the Heartland's round-robin schedule begins.

Cory Cole discusses the game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lq5TxSkm4l8&feature=youtu.be