EDMOND, Okla. - On legendary former head coach
Dan Hays' birthday, the Oklahoma Christian men's basketball program overcame a halftime deficit to defeat Southwestern Oklahoma State Saturday afternoon, 68-60.
Carson Jones came within one point of tying his collegiate career high with a game-high 21 points. The Kansas Wesleyan transfer and Oklahoma Christian School product went 5-of-11 from the floor while hitting nine of his 11 free throws.
Miles Gibson and
Elijah Bailey each packed their respective stat sheets to do a little bit of everything in the winning effort. Gibson scored 15 points, pulled down four rebounds, registered four assists and claimed two steals and one block while Bailey tallied 12 points on 6-of-8 shooting with five rebounds, three assists and three steals.
The in-state dual featured 10 lead changes, albeit just one in the opening 20 minutes. Following a three-pointer from
Jason Clark to get the scoring started, back-to-back treys from the Bulldogs gave them a lead they held for the remainder of the first half.
Jones had made just one field-goal in the first 19:58 of game action as SWOSU built a nine-point lead at the under-eight media timeout, 22-13. The maroon-and-gray closed the opening half on a 12-4 run to close the gap to one at the break, capped off by a half-court heave from Jones at the buzzer, serving as the first-year Eagle's second made field-goal of the opening period.
Oklahoma Christian opened the second half making seven of its first 10 field-goals to open a 44-34 lead at the 14:13 mark. The Bulldogs retook the lead at the 9:51 mark on the clock off a 12-1 run before the lead changed hands six more times over the next five minutes of game action.
With play tied at 57-57 heading into the final media timeout, a Gibson three-pointer out of the pause in play proved to be the final momentum swing OC needed. The Eagles grew that three-point advantage to an eight-point victory as the maroon-and-gray converted on its final four free-throw attempts.
Oklahoma Christian (2-0, 0-0 LSC) will play one final home non-conference game Tuesday, Nov. 25 at 6 p.m. against Southwestern Christian.
