DENTON, Texas (Nov. 5, 2019) – The good news for Oklahoma Christian is the Eagles won't play a better basketball team the rest of the season than they did Tuesday night when they faced North Texas and they learned many lessons they'll be able to apply along the way.
The bad news? They certainly took their lumps against the NCAA Division I Mean Green. OC shot 28.3 percent from the field and North Texas shot 61.2 percent, and the result was predictable – a 79-40 win for the Mean Green at the UNT Coliseum.
North Texas (1-0) outrebounded the Eagles 39-19 and had three double-figure scorers in Thomas Bell (16 points), Zachary Simmons (14 points) and Umoja Gibson (12 points). OC, which counted the game as an exhibition – as Division II teams can't play countable regular-season games until Friday – didn't have a single player score in double figures.
Dedrian Parmer Jr. and
Johnatan Reyes-Valdez led OC with seven points each.
"It was a great opportunity tonight for us to come out and compete," OC coach
Kendre Talley said. "We got a chance to play everything and I think we grew closer as a team."
There certainly was a feeling of anticipation for OC entering the game – it was the Eagles' first opportunity to face a Division I opponent since playing at Tulsa in an exhibition game in November 2016 and a homecoming of sorts for OC assistant coach
Luis Lopez, who spent the past two seasons as a graduate assistant under North Texas head coach Grant McCasland.
OC held its own early, taking the lead on a couple of occasions, the last time at 10-8 on a 3-pointer by
York Benjamin at the 15:26 mark. North Texas seized control with a 12-0 run, but OC hung tough, pulling within 20-16 with a 6-0 run, capped by a basket by
Marcus Blackwell with 9:01 left in the half.
The Eagles trailed only 25-18 after a basket by Reyes-Valdez at the 6:05 mark, but those proved to be OC's final points of the half. The Eagles trailed 37-18 at halftime and didn't score in the second half until a three-point play by
Conner Johnson at the 15:28 mark, which ended a drought of more than 10½ minutes.
"If you can't put the ball in the hole, you're probably not going to have a chance to win it," Talley said. "Right there at the beginning, we were right there with them. We were running our stuff and playing really well together. That just shows you how good we can be if we play together and compete hard."
Parmer Jr. went 5 of 6 from the free-throw line during an 8-2 spurt by the Eagles in the second half that cut the margin to 52-28 with 10:08 left. The Mean Green sizzled from 3-point range down the stretch, with D.J. Draper hitting all three of his attempts from behind the arc in the final 4:22 and Abdul Mohamed adding another 3-pointer.
OC's second-half standouts included freshman
Hunter Staten, who went 3 of 4 from the field and scored six points, and senior
James Bagwell, who knocked down two 3-pointers in the final 55 seconds for the Eagles' final points.
"He's a sniper," Talley said of Bagwell. "He does it on a consistent basis. He's a guy who's been around our program for awhile. He's a coach on the floor and leads by example. … I knew those shots were going in when they left his hand."
OC will open its regular season next Tuesday, when the Eagles host cross-Edmond rival Central Oklahoma.
Kendre Talley discusses the game:
https://youtu.be/zTc4cCTgyW0
