OKLAHOMA CITY (Nov. 23, 2019) – With Oklahoma Christian down a key inside player due to injury, senior forward Dedrian Parmer Jr. knew he'd have to step up his game and he responded with a rare perfect shooting performance.

Parmer went 11 of 11 from the field and scored 28 points – just one off his collegiate high – to lead the Eagles to the program's first-ever Lone Star Conference win, a 65-57 triumph over Texas A&M International on Saturday afternoon in the Eagles' Nest.

OC (2-3, 1-1 LSC) never trailed against the Dustdevils, although TAMIU (2-4, 0-2) never let the Eagles pull away, either. TAMIU took advantage of the absence of OC senior center Will Lienhard – last season's leading rebounder in NCAA Division II – by outrebounding the Eagles 40-28. But thanks in good part to Parmer, OC shot 52.1 percent (25 of 48) from the field, while TAMIU shot just 37.9 percent (22 of 58).

Parmer's perfect shooting game – which included a pair of 3-pointers – was only the second in OC history, with the other a 20-of-20 performance by John Moon in a win over Oklahoma Panhandle State on Feb. 6, 2016. Moon was in attendance Saturday, watching Parmer and the Eagles, and the authors of the two perfect games posed for a picture together afterward.

It wasn't immediately known if the 11-of-11 outing set a Lone Star Conference single-game record for shooting percentage, as the league doesn't have that category listed in its record book.

"My teammates came in and they started off hot and that opened up the game for me," Parmer said. "I was the leading scorer, so a lot of (defensive) attention was on me. I just believed in my teammates to make the right plays. When I got the ball, they just couldn't help (defensively). It was a lot of one-on-one matchups. Their defensive scheme, they like to trap, so we just did a good job as a team of staying poised with the ball and we found the open man."

The win over TAMIU came two days after the Eagles dropped a one-point decision to Texas A&M-Kingsville in their LSC opener.

"You say happy, but I'm more proud," OC coach Kendre Talley said. "Our guys could have easily came in and laid down and lost another game, but they showed the resilience and the toughness they have. Today we actually got to play with a lead. We had a really good start. They had to get the right mentality to come out and compete today."

Against TAMIU, OC led by as many as eight points in the first half before settling for a 34-28 halftime lead. The Eagles opened the second half on a 10-4 run and led 44-32 after a basket by (who else) Parmer with 15:43 left.

The Dustdevils scored the next nine points, though, and pulled within 48-46 on a 3-pointer by Matija Novkovic with 10:06 left. Sophomore D.J. Walter hit a short jumper and Parmer followed with two baskets to restore OC's lead to 54-46, but TAMIU stayed close and trailed only 55-51 after a basket by Dominic Jackson with 3:39 left.

Aubrey Johnson, who struggled with his shot for most of the game, hit a huge 3-pointer for OC with 3:11 left to put the Eagles up by seven points, and Marcus Blackwell and Parmer scored on lay-ins in the final 2:04 to keep the Dustdevils at bay. OC won despite going 1 of 7 from the free-throw line in the final 48.8 seconds, missing its last six attempts.

Aubrey Johnson recorded a career-high eight assists to go with seven rebounds and seven points, while junior guard Anthony Johnson, making his first start of the season, added 12 points for OC.

Talley said Aubrey Johnson "controlled the game. He had a tough shooting night but he hit the biggest shot of the game, knocking in that three. He just made a lot of good plays tonight. He was poised."

Parmer added five rebounds, three assists and two blocked shots. His career scoring high is 29 points, set against Panhandle State on Jan. 24 when he played for USAO. Talley also praised two other inside players, York Benjamin (six points, four rebounds, two blocks) and Hunter Staten.

Parmer "had a really good game," Talley said. "He's consistent. He's kind of taken more of a leadership role and he just figures it out. The guys are starting to look for him. He was all over the place."

Novkovic led TAMIU with 15 points, while Jackson and Ryan Birt scored 11 each and Caleb Highley added 10.

OC will take a break from LSC play for a couple of weeks to wrap up the nonconference portion of its schedule. The Eagles will host archrival Southern Nazarene next Saturday.

Kendre Talley discusses the game: https://youtu.be/cMyZdJcE9a4

Dedrian Parmer Jr.'s postgame interview with Eagle Media: https://youtu.be/pH217mznVSQ 

Game highlights: https://youtu.be/zG00rOvOaEI