TULSA, Okla. (March 9, 2019) – It's hard to catch up when the other team is shooting well, but Oklahoma Christian made a valiant effort to do so on Saturday night against Dallas Baptist (Texas).

Down by 21 points midway through the first half, OC battled and whittled the deficit to seven with 4:56 left in the game. But Dallas Baptist capped a sizzling long-range shooting night with three 3-pointers in the final 4½ minutes to hang on for a 72-58 win over the Eagles in the Heartland Conference Championship men's basketball tournament semifinals at the Union Multipurpose Activity Center.

Sixth-seeded OC (11-18) saw its bid for a second straight Cinderella run to the Heartland tournament title game denied despite doing a lot of things well. The Eagles outrebounded second-seeded Dallas Baptist (23-9) by a decisive 41-29 margin, thanks to seniors Will Lienhard (12 rebounds) and Roderick Smith (16 points, 13 rebounds), but committed 19 turnovers and went just 3 of 16 from 3-point range.

The Patriots, meanwhile, hit 11 of 25 3-point attempts (44 percent) and shot 48 percent overall (24 of 50). Six different Patriots made at least one 3-pointer, which is the primary reason they'll face top-seeded St. Edward's (Texas) in the title game on Sunday.

"We didn't start how we wanted to," OC coach Cory Cole said. "I think we were a little nervous the first six or seven minutes, kind of pressing a little bit. But the guys were ready. The game plan was solid. Just a couple of things didn't go our way early on and we kind of got off schedule. But our guys fought hard, like we always do for 40 minutes. I love their toughness and their togetherness.

"These guys are never out and this game showed that. … It's a tribute to these seniors and my staff. I'm proud of the comeback and the toughness, because that's something we can build on."

Dallas Baptist hit five of its first seven shots and began the game on a 28-7 run, hitting four 3-pointers in that stretch, including two by Conner Lidiak. OC took advantage of the Patriots' 14 first-half fouls to start closing the game at the free-throw line and the Eagles were down only 39-25 at halftime.

Marcus Blackwell and Smith each scored in the first 69 seconds of the second half and the deficit was down to 10. Dallas Baptist responded with an 18-6 run (which included four 3-pointers) and led 57-35 with 12:07 left.

But OC didn't quit, going on a 17-2 run that included consecutive three-point plays by Jordan Box and Smith and a 3-pointer and a driving layup by Aubrey Johnson. When Braden Eggleston split a pair of free throws with 4:56 left, the Eagles trailed only 59-52.

The Patriots had one final flurry, though. Julian Miranda and J.T. Harris hit 3-pointers to extend the DBU lead to 11 points and the Patriots kept the lead in double digits the rest of the way.

Only one Dallas Baptist player scored in double figures – center Zach Lord, who had 14 points. But six Patriots scored either eight or nine points.

"I thought we had a good defensive effort," Dallas Baptist coach Blake Flickner said. "The guys played really hard and executed the game plan really well. After Oklahoma Christian had 17 offensive rebounds (against us) last month, we did a lot better job and held them to 16 offensive rebounds today.

"They're obviously really good on the glass. We knew coming in how important that was going to be, but we tightened up in the second half and held them to four. But the defensive effort was really good and we had balanced scoring. The guys did a good job of finding the open man."

The game was the final one in an OC uniform for Box, Eggleston and Smith and perhaps the last for Lienhard. Box – the last remaining player on the team signed by OC's legendary former coach, Dan Hays – led the Eagles with 17 points and finished his career with 1,347 points, passing current assistant coach Kendre Talley (1,333 points) on Saturday to move into 26th place on the program's all-time list.

Smith, whose college career began with the 2011-12 season, recorded his seventh double-double as a senior. He scored 1,246 points over his career, which included stops at Seminole State and Arkansas Baptist before arriving at OC with the 2017-18 season.

Lienhard extended his Heartland single-season record for rebounds to 368, moving him into a tie for fifth on OC's single-season list in that statistical category. He also likely secured the individual NCAA Division II rebounding title, finishing with 12.7 boards per game, a total highly unlikely to be caught by any Division II player still competing this season.

"He's a celebrity now moving forward," said Cole, who remains as OC's career rebounding leader a quarter-century after his playing career ended. I thought I was a good rebounder until I coached Will. He just goes hard on every play. He's unassuming. You can always count on him to bang and play solid. To go from what he did last year to this year, we couldn't have planned for that. He's been a dominant post all season."

OC postgame press conference: https://youtu.be/pDbNKV5avy0

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