OKLAHOMA CITY (Nov. 6, 2021) – Oklahoma Christian's exhibition men's basketball game on Saturday afternoon against Calvary (Mo.) was effectively over almost as soon as it started, which gave some fan favorites on the end of the Eagles' bench time to shine in the final minutes.

OC raced to a 13-0 lead over Calvary (Mo.) and never was challenged, with the Eagles continuing to build on their lead throughout en route to an 86-34 win in the annual homecoming contest in the Eagles' Nest.

Senior guard Anthony Johnson scored 20 points in just 21 minutes on 7-of-11 shooting while freshman Nyk Madison added 13 points for OC, which saw all 12 players who suited up score. Among that group were Rylan Schlup (6 points), Tucker Fuller (4 points) and Tyler Toth (2 points), key members of the OC program who don't often receive the glory often afforded to their teammates.

Fans began calling midway through the second half for OC coach Kendre Talley to insert Fuller into the game and Talley finally put in Fuller, Schlup and Toth with 6:39 left and let them play the rest of the game. Every time a member of that trio made a basket, their teammates on the OC bench erupted in cheers, as did many fans in the jam-packed student section in the gym.

"It was a really good day," Talley said. "The freshmen that we had last year had never seen a homecoming (game) or the gym packed. It was great. We had a lot of support today … You could just tell everybody was excited to be back on campus for a game that was open to the public."

Johnson scored 11 of his points in the first 3:33 of the game. OC led 45-6 late in the first half and 48-15 at halftime. In the second half, OC held the Warriors without a basket for a stretch of 10 minutes, 52 seconds, and without a point for 10 minutes, 10 seconds. During that time, the Eagles increased their lead from 54-18 to 74-18.

"Anthony is a senior leader now," Talley said. "He has a different aggression with him offensively. He did a really good job. Honestly, all the guys contributed. I love the fact that toward the end of the game, Rylan, Tucker and Tyler and those guys got to be aggressively offensively. Today was about feeling each other out. Since we have multiple new guys, it's important to work on some things and just get acquainted with each other to get ready for the season."

The Eagles made 13 steals, with seven different players recording at least one. They had more steals than turnovers (10) and limited the Warriors to 25.4-percent field-goal shooting.

"The last two years, we've played a lot of zone (defense)," Talley said. "We have a lot of athleticism on our team this year, so we're looking to be a little more aggressive defensively, with the schemes and type of things we do. We want to be tough to score on."

No Calvary player scored in double digits. Jonah Murr led the Warriors with seven points.

OC will take a considerable step up in competition for its next exhibition game, as the Eagles will visit NCAA Division I North Texas on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. Tickets for that game can be purchased here.

Kendre Talley discusses the game: https://youtu.be/ngqjtKyzt8s