SAN ANTONIO (Feb. 16, 2019) – Battling foul trouble and balky shooting, Oklahoma Christian still made a game of it Saturday afternoon at St. Mary's (Texas), but ultimately didn't have enough success on offense to pull through.

St. Mary's saw a 13-point second-half lead shrink to a point but the Rattlers still managed to hold off OC 74-69 at Bill Greehey Arena, giving them a split of their regular-season series against the Eagles.

OC (9-14, 4-8 Heartland Conference) shot only 35.8 percent from the field, while St. Mary's (11-14, 3-9) hit 50 percent of its shots. Even with the loss, OC remained in sixth place in the league standings, two games ahead of ninth-place Texas A&M International. The top eight teams will qualify for the league's postseason tournament.

"We had our chances but couldn't get over the hump today," OC coach Cory Cole said. "We played pretty good defense for most of the game but didn't hit enough shots.

"This may have been our best road game in all phases, except we had some lapses that they capitalized on. I'm a little disappointed that the whistles didn't go our way on a few plays, but that's life on the road. The guys locked in and played through the adversity and performed well enough to have a chance to win."

St. Mary's looked to be in good shape with 17:36 left, when a 3-pointer by Skyler Brooks put them ahead 45-32, especially because OC's inside tandem of Will Lienhard and Roderick Smith, who had dominated opposing frontcourts in recent games, both spent much of the second half in foul trouble. Lienhard picked up his fourth foul with 15:17 left, while Smith's fourth came with 10:13 left.

But in their absence, the Eagles found a way to rally. A 3-pointer by Jordan Box pulled OC within 52-50 with 11:36 left and two free throws by Braden Eggleston cut the margin to 57-56 with 8:08 left. The Eagles still were within a point at 63-62 after a layup by Lienhard with 5:24 left.

The Rattlers reeled off seven straight points, though, and led 70-62 after two free throws by Matej Gaspert with 2:00 left. OC came no closer than four points after that.

Box scored 13 points to lead OC, while Smith had 12 and Brian Carey and Aubrey Johnson had 10 each. Lienhard, who entered the game leading NCAA Division II in rebounding, had 11 to go with nine points.

Gaspert had 14 points for St. Mary's, Dimitri Peterson had 12 and Caleb Jordan had 10. The Rattlers shot 47.3 percent from the field.

OC will host the Heartland's second-place team, Dallas Baptist (Texas), on Thursday night.

"We are getting better and our best ball is still ahead of us and that's what it's all about," Cole said. "I will take it and we will grow from it and get back to practice this week and continue to get better. I'm excited to get back home to the Nest and play DBU. They are one of the top teams in our conference and we will need to be ready from the jump."