OBU squads record sweep at USAO

February 18, 2005

CHICKASHA -- Oklahoma Baptist University's men increased their chances to get in the Sooner Athletic Conference tournament with a 62-50 win over USAO Saturday night. 

"Any win is a good win for us right now," head coach Doug Tolin said. "I thought our guys played hard tonight. We played a good game when we needed to and that really helped. All of us (in the conference) are bunched together. Every win is huge, home or away."

The Bison moved to 7-8 in the conference and 19-9 overall.

OBU got 20 points from Leonard Mosley, who was 7-for-15 from the field and 4-of-8 from three-point range.

"I've been working on my shot a lot," said Mosley. "I'm putting out my effort on defense and coach just told me I need to start scoring. My teammates have been feeding me the ball and have been getting me open for good shots."

Mosley has averaged 23.5 points over the last two games with 27 at Northwestern and 20 against USAO.

"He had a good start," said Tolin. "He was ready to go tonight. I'm sure their (USAO) theory was to pack the defense down like Northwestern did and make us make some shots and he did."

The Bison also got double figures from Frank Benson, who scored 17 points off the bench while going eight-of-14 from the field. Robert Hart was just three rebounds away from a double-double with seven while dumping in 14 points.

OBU shot over 50 percent from the field, hitting 24 of 47 shots.

"We haven't shot over 50 percent in a while,"said Tolin. "Once the league started, we were shooting like 47 and 48 percent, but we hung in there tonight."

On the negative side, OBU committed 20 turnovers.

In the first half, OBU took a 15-11 lead after Frank Benson hit back-to-back field goals. After Martin Washington pulled the Drovers within 15-13, OBU went on a 10-0 run to take a 25-13 lead.

Mosley sparked the run with two straight 3-pointers.

OBU led 36-23 at the half.

In the second half, OBU never led by less than 10 until four seconds left to play when Keith Miller hit a 3-pointer. The Bison led by 16 on three occasions, the last coming at the 4:52 mark.

OBU 63, USAO 52 (Women)

"We're getting wins we have to get because we're not getting much attention in the national polls," said John McCullough, head coach of the Lady Bison. "We just have to go out and get the job done."

The Lady Bison got 17 points from Tabetha Eaton, who returned to her hometown for the first time in a Lady Bison uniform.

"It felt good coming home and showing the fans I belong at OBU," said Eaton. "I'm not saying anything against USAO, but I really love it at OBU. I had a good time in front of a home crowd. I knew people were coming, but I didn't know that many from Chickasha were going to show up."

Eaton was five-for-11 from the field and perfect from beyond the arc with two treys. She also hit five of her six free throws.

"She shot the ball well from the three-point line," said McCullough. "It was good to see her come home and play well in front of her family and fans. She hasn't had too many great shooting nights, but tonight she really stepped up and made some 3-pointers that she's been capable of making all year."

OBU also got 12 points from Layla Schwarz.

USAO was 41 percent from 3-point range. Secrett Stubblefield scored 19, including three treys, and Christal Merriweather had five 3-pointers and 17 points.

"That was a great win for us, especially with the USAO guards being tough as heck to guard," said McCullough. "We stuck it out and made free throws at the right time."

In the first half, USAO jumped out to a 4-0 lead, but the Lady Bison answered with an 8-0 run. Secrett Stubblefield started a 7-0 run for the Lady Bison with back-to-back field goals, the second being a three-pointer.

OBU answered right back with a 7-0 run to take the lead back at 15-11. OBU led 21-19 with 1:31 left before halftime, but USAO ended the half with a 5-0 run take a 24-21 lead.

Trena Robbins put OBU up 34-32 with 14:35 left in the game and the Lady Bison never trailed from that point on. USAO tied the game up at 52-52 with 3:08 left, but OBU ended the game with an 11-0 run.

With the win, the Lady Bison moved to 10-5 in the Sooner Athletic Conference (22-6 overall) and sits only half a game behind Southern Nazarene in fifth place.

Both OBU squads will play at John Brown Monday night.