DALLAS (March 2, 2020) – Motivation figures to be abundant for both basketball teams as Oklahoma Christian and Dallas Baptist (Texas) prepare for a first-round Lone Star Conference tournament game on Tuesday night.
No. 11 seed OC (10-16) has had its season ended the past two years by Dallas Baptist (20-8) in conference postseason games, while sixth-seeded DBU posted its lowest point total of the 2019-20 season – by 23 points – in a 61-42 loss at OC on Jan. 11. That recent history between the programs should provide much intrigue when they meet at 7 p.m. at the Burg Center.
Since OC and the Patriots resumed their series in 2012-13 – when OC began its transition into NCAA Division II – it has been relatively even, with DBU holding an 11-7 edge. Three of those wins for DBU have come in the postseason, with the last two particularly painful for the Eagles.
DBU ended the seventh-seeded Eagles' magical run through the 2018 Heartland Conference tournament with a 77-57 win in the title game in Tulsa, Okla., then downed OC again in last year's Heartland tournament semifinals in Tulsa by a 72-58 count, after OC again had pulled a first-round upset.
The Patriots entered this season's regular-season matchup with OC with a No. 10 ranking in the National Association of Basketball Coaches' NCAA Division II poll, but the Eagles put on a defensive clinic, limiting DBU to 31.4-percent shooting and outrebounding the Patriots 46-27. DBU's point total was the lowest in its program history and the lowest by an OC opponent since Nov. 4, 2006, when the Eagles beat Oklahoma Wesleyan 97-39.
Under first-year coach
Kendre Talley, OC has relied on its stifling zone defense all season, with the Eagles leading the Lone Star and ranking No. 13 in Division II in scoring defense, allowing opponents only 66.2 points per game.
Senior center
Will Lienhard – the LSC's top defensive player – leads the league in both rebounding (10.4 per game) and blocked shots (2.65 per game), ranking seventh and sixth, respectively, in Division II in those statistical categories.
OC also has the LSC's top 3-point shooter in senior guard
Aubrey Johnson, who leads the league in both made 3-pointers (92) and 3-pointers per game (3.5). He averages 15.0 points per game, while senior forward
Dedrian Parmer Jr. averages a team-high 15.6 points per game, along with 6.7 rebounds per game.
The Patriots rebounded from their game with OC and rank fourth in the LSC in scoring at 81.8 points per game and second in both field-goal percentage (49.0) and 3-point percentage (38.6). Junior guard Chandler Jacobs leads the Patriots in scoring (16.3 ppg) and rebounding (5.2 ppg), while Conner Lidiak (10.4 ppg) and Jonathyn Washington (10.1 ppg) both have double-figure scoring averages.
Dallas Baptist has won at least 20 games in each of the last five seasons (including this one) and has made the Division II tournament three of the last four seasons. At No. 4 in the most recent NCAA South Central Region rankings, the Patriots would seem a lock to run their NCAA tournament streak to three straight years no matter the result of the LSC tournament.
The OC-DBU winner will play fourth-seeded Texas A&M-Kingsville in a quarterfinal game on Friday at noon at the Comerica Center in nearby Frisco, just north of Dallas.
