OKLAHOMA CITY (Jan. 28, 2017) – Oklahoma Panhandle State certainly must be glad it won't have to face Oklahoma Christian center John Moon any more.

For the second straight basketball season, Moon torched the Aggies for one of the highest-scoring games in Heartland Conference and OC history, pouring in 44 points to lead the Eagles to an 84-81 overtime win on Saturday afternoon in the Eagles' Nest.

Marcus Mathieu and Elijah Strickland (who had 16 points) combined go 6-of-6 from the free-throw line in the final 21.7 seconds of overtime for OC (8-11, 3-8 Heartland Conference), which won its second straight game and moved within a game of eighth place in the league standings with seven games left. The top eight teams qualify for the conference postseason tournament.

Moon, a 7-foot senior from Crescent, set or tied numerous NCAA, Heartland and OC records last Feb. 6 with a 50-point, 20-of-20 shooting outing in a 104-91 win over Panhandle State. This time, he went 16-of-19 from the field, throwing down seven dunks and generally making life miserable for OPSU defenders.

"He got established early," OC coach Cory Cole said. "The guys did a good job of finding him and John just kept posting deep and finishing. It's the best game I've ever seen him play. I saw the 50-point game on film, but watching it live, and just seeing that dominance, man, that was a huge game and we needed every last point."

Moon recorded his third career game of 40 or more points. The 44 points ranked tied for fifth on the Heartland's single-game scoring list with Lawrence Ramsey of St. Edward's (Texas), who had 44 against Texas A&M-Commerce on Nov. 29, 2002. Moon now has had three of the top 10 scoring games in the NCAA Division II league's history, with no other players appearing more than once on that list.

His 16 field goals against Panhandle State (5-14, 0-10) ranked tied for fourth on the Heartland's single-game list in that category. He also tops that list with his 20 baskets last season against the Aggies.

His 44 points ranked tied for second on OC's single-game scoring list with Norvell Brown, who had 44 in a 127-60 win over Rockmont (Colo.) on Dec. 10, 1981. Brown held OC's school record until Moon's 50-point game.

Moon also jumped two spots on both the OC and Heartland career scoring lists. On the school list, he passed OC Athletic Hall of Famer Eric Wiens (1,728 points from 1991-95) and tied Kenneth Orange (1,745 points from 1979-83) for eighth place.

On the Heartland list, he moved past current Arkansas-Fort Smith star Seth Youngblood (1,733 points) and Braxton Adamson of Dallas Baptist (Texas) (1,744 points from 2007-11) into third place.

Moon also blocked three shots to raise his career total to 216. He already holds the Heartland career record is and 13 shy of tying Micah Miles (2003-07) for the OC mark.

"John is the best rim protector at the D-2 level in the country and he showed that again tonight," Cole said. "All of his blocks saved us baskets and if he doesn't make those blocks in regulation, we probably lose this game. Everything John did tonight helped us secure the win."

Moon's heroics somewhat obscured a pulse-pounding finish for the Eagles, who blew out to a 13-point first-half lead, only to see the Aggies twice come back to take the lead and nearly win the game in regulation.

OC led 31-18 with 5:42 left in the first half, but the Aggies closed that margin to 39-35 by halftime and took a 40-39 lead with 19:11 left on a 3-pointer by Riyadh Asad, who led OPSU with 20 points. The Eagles regained the lead, then gave it up again as Malcolm Glanville's three-point play put the Aggies up 48-47 with 13:50 left.

Moon answered with a dunk and two free throws in the next 44 seconds and the Eagles never trailed again, but OPSU never let them get comfortable.

A free throw by Moon with 7:39 left gave OC a 67-58 lead, but a 9-0 run, capped by a three-point play by Jaedon Whitfield, pulled the Aggies within 67-66 with 5 minutes left.

Moon gave OC a 71-68 lead with a layup with 1:50 left in regulation, but those proved to be OC's final points before overtime. Whitfield's layup with 1:13 left narrowed the Eagles' lead to one point and the Aggies had several chances in the final minute to take control.

But Pierre Roddy – who had 15 points and eight rebounds for OPSU – missed two free throws with 55.5 seconds left and after OC's Dorian Lopez missed the front end of a one-and-one free-throw opportunity with 54.7 seconds left, Jace Kerr went 1-of-2 from the line for the Aggies with 39.3 seconds left.

Strickland missed a 3-point attempt for OC with 12 seconds left and Moon's long reach on defense forced a missed layup attempt by Glanville at the buzzer and extended the game.

Moon's dunk put OC up 74-72 with 3:26 left in overtime and Kerr – the Aggies' most effective defender against Moon – had to leave the game with a bloody nose. Officials slapped Panhandle State coach Jerry Olson with a technical foul for protesting and Strickland made two free throws to make it a four-point game.

Down 78-76, the Aggies missed a chance to tie when Moon blocked a layup by Roddy with 1:17 left. The Aggies could have taken the lead moments later, but Sita Sesay missed a 3-point attempt with 29 seconds left and they had to foul.

Strickland made two free throws with 21.7 seconds left. Kerr did the same for the Aggies with 13.8 seconds left before Mathieu answered with 11.2 seconds left. Sesay drained a 3-pointer from the corner with 3.8 seconds left to pull OPSU within 82-81, but Mathieu made two free throws with 1.9 seconds left. Two attempts by Kerr to throw a length-of-the-court pass for a final OPSU shot failed.

Glanville added 14 points for OPSU while Whitfield had 13. Kerr had 14 rebounds to go with eight points.

OC will begin a three-game road swing next Saturday at St. Edward's (Texas).

Cory Cole discusses the game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OtFjO1AUAQ&feature=youtu.be 

Game highlights, courtesy of Eagle Media: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkB0eoJgFLc&feature=youtu.be 

Final moments of game/postgame celebration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6o1enXFiuPw&t=3s