Northwestern Hands Bison First Loss

January 3, 2008

Oklahoma Baptist almost escaped its first road test of 2008, but Northwestern claimed a 53-52 win over the Bison.

Brandon Brown missed the first but hit the second of two free throws to give No. 21 Northwestern the final margin with 3.1 seconds left. OBU's last gasp shot by Brian Hill h

hit the rim and bounced away.

"I thought we played hard enough to win that game, didn't play well enough. If you make some of those shots it doesn't matter what happens the last 15 seconds," said OBU coach Doug Tolin. "We outscore them by three baskets on the road feel like you can win it, but they got to the free throw line. They did hurt us on the boards."

The fourth-ranked Bison dropped to 11-1 overall and 3-1 in the SAC.

Aaron Perez came off the bench to lead the Bison with 15 points, followed by Hill with a dozen and Brent Jones with 10.

The Bison shot 39.2 percent from the field in the battle of two of the NAIA's best defenses. OBU held Northwestern to 32 percent shooting, but lost the game at the free throw line, 15-10.

Northwestern led for most of the game and never trailed in the second half.

The Bison trailed by eight at one point in the second half and were down six with 4:11 o play. OBU got five unanswered points by Hill to pull within one at the 2:22 mark.

Al Moore tied the game at 52-52 from inside with 58 seconds left. OBU missed a shot with 34 seconds left and though Moore was bumped twice, a jump ball was called on the rebound and possession awarded to Northwestern for the game winning chance.

OBU will have to regroup and take on Oklahoma Christian in Oklahoma City Saturday. Tip off is 8 p.m.