OKLAHOMA CITY (Dec. 14, 2019) – Both Oklahoma Christian and Arkansas-Fort Smith were down a standout basketball player, but it was OC that had a sharpshooter step up Saturday to lift his team to the win.

Senior guard Aubrey Johnson hit 7 of 11 3-point attempts and scored 23 points, and the Eagles outrebounded UAFS 40-26 and led nearly all the way while posting a 69-61 win in the Eagles' Nest.

OC (3-4, 2-1 Lone Star Conference) is tied for its division lead in the LSC with Texas A&M-Commerce, while UAFS (5-4, 1-2) fell a game back of those squads with its third straight loss. OC took 13 fewer shots than did the Lions, but the Eagles shot 43.5 percent (20 of 46) from the field and a sizzling 57.9 percent (11 of 19) from 3-point range.

UAFS hit 40.7 percent of its shots (24 of 59) but went only 8 of 27 (29.6 percent) from 3-point range. Matthew Wilson, who entered the game leading the LSC in made 3-pointers per game (3.5) and averaging 18 points per game, finished with eight points and went 2 of 13 from behind the arc.

"We've been playing really good defense and today just shows you, when we can combine defense with making some shots, it will look a lot better," OC coach Kendre Talley said. "I was glad we got going offensively and kept the defense consistent."

The Lions played without the conference's leading scorer, 6-foot-5 guard Brian Halums, who sat out for unspecified reasons, while OC center Will Lienhard – who led NCAA Division II in rebounding last season – missed the game due to injury. Thanks in good part to Johnson – who hit seven or more 3-pointers in a game for the third time in his OC career – it was the Eagles who adjusted better to missing a key player.

"Aubrey is a guy who can get hot," Talley said. "He hadn't been shooting it like he wanted to and after a game like (that), he just gets in the gym and continues to grind. I was happy he got going tonight, and that's what got us going."

Marcus Blackwell and Johnson each hit a 3-pointer as OC used an early 10-0 run to jump to a 10-2 lead, and UAFS never caught up. Dedrian Parmer Jr. and Johnson each hit a 3-pointer in the final 95 seconds of the first half, giving the Eagles a 38-25 halftime lead.

OC opened the second half with a 12-4 run that included two more of Johnson's 3-pointers and led 50-29 after a traditional three-point play by Parmer with 15:19 left.

The Lions steadily cut into that margin, though, and pulled as close as 67-61 on a 3-pointer by Charles Botchway with 20.2 seconds left. But OC sophomore D.J. Walter went 4 of 4 from the free-throw line in the final 31 seconds to seal the win for the Eagles. He finished with a season-high 11 points, while Parmer had 13 points and 10 rebounds for his second double-double of the season.

Blackwell also grabbed a career-high 10 rebounds to go with five points for the Eagles. Botchway led UAFS with 15 points, while Chris Rollins had 11 points and eight rebounds and Evan Anderson added 11 points.

"We rebounded the ball well, with Marcus and Dedrian and Anthony Johnson also had seven rebounds," Talley said. "With Will being out, those guys knew they had to step up and rebound out of our zone and they did a good job of that. I'm proud of them, because to outrebound a team like Fort Smith, with 6-8, 6-9, 6-8, you've got to have a little bit of heart and we showed a little bit of toughness tonight."

The Eagles will close out first-semester action next week, visiting No. 2-ranked West Texas A&M on Thursday and Eastern New Mexico – the alma mater of Dan Hays, OC's current assistant coach and the Eagles' longtime head coach – on Saturday.

"We're excited about that trip for coach Hays, going back to where it all started," Talley said. "That will be good for him. But we're just trying to take it one game at a time, so … we're just looking at the first opponent on our list and we'll prepare for (West Texas A&M) and just take it one game at a time and continue to get better."

Kendre Talley discusses the game: https://youtu.be/_NOSEHS28LQ

Game highlights: https://youtu.be/QIUP1a0InyM