Bison Knock Off USAO in Chickasha

January 4, 2007

Looking for their first win away from the Noble Complex Thursday, Oklahoma Baptist opened Sooner Athletic Conference play Thursday with an 87-71 win over USAO in Chickasha.

It was OBU's first game since Dec. 16.

The Bison trailed early, falling behind 9-3 quickly and by as many as 11 in the first half. USAO still held a 23-13 advantage with 7:34 left in the first half before OBU began a run to briefly take a first-half lead.

The Drovers held OBU off enough to lead 34-32 at halftime.

OBU used a half-opening 21-9 run to establish a 53-43 lead. The Drovers got as close as seven before the Bison rattled off the next six points for a 61-48 lead with 9:01 left in the game.

The Drovers never got closer than 10 points after that and the Bison lead peaked at 19 points with under a minute to play in the game.

"That may have been the layoff hurting us early on, but I thought we got better offensively as the game went on," said OBU coach Doug Tolin. "Then we got them in foul trouble and we were able to take advantage of it."

Five Bison hit double figures in the scoring column, led by Julius Hurd with 19 points. Hurd also had eight rebounds. Mike Fraser had 16 points and 11 rebounds, Kortney Smith had 15 points and Tre Griffin and Justin Benson scored 11 points each.

The Bison shot 53 percent from the field for the night and out-rebounded USAO 41-36.

Thomas Woods led USAO with 20 points.

Now 8-3 overall and 1-0 in the SAC, the Bison will play at 8 p.m., Thursday, opposite Northwestern Oklahoma State in Alva.