Bison bounce back with win over Oklahoma City

Oklahoma Baptist showed no ill effects of a one-point loss Thursday against St. Gregory's as they defeated Oklahoma City University 82-69.

"We played much better tonight then we did Thursday," said Head Coach Doug Tolin. "We have to keep getting better if we want to have a chance in this conference. We have to be ready every night no matter who we step on the floor with."

The Bison had to do without forward Frank Benson who injured his knee against SGU.

Even without Benson OBU got plenty of scoring in the post with Andrew Bryant and Frank's brother, Justin Benson. Bryant racked up a double-double on the night by scoring 15 points and pulling down 15 rebounds. Justin Benson scored 18 points for the Bison as he went 8-for-12 from the field and hit both free throw attempts. The Bison hit the boards all night and more than doubled the Stars on the glass with 42 rebounds compared to OCU's 20. Eighteen of OBU's rebounds came off the offensive end.

The Bison not only got the job done in the paint, but fired it well beyond the three-point arc. Leonard Mosley was five-for-nine from three-point range as he led all scorers with 23. Mosley only missed a double double by two assists as he finished with eight.

"He came to play today," said Tolin. "That's the type of performance that we expect from him every night."

Robert Hart was the only other Bison in double figures with 10 points. Hart also just missed a double-double as he had nine assists.

"We had a much better exhibition of offense tonight," said Tolin. "We made them guard us inside and we took outside shots when we should. I think that's the strength of our team is that we don't have to either go inside or shoot from the outside. We can do it from both the outside and inside."

In the first half the Bison and Stars exchanged leads four times before OBU went on an 8-0 run to take the lead 23-16 with 12 minutes left to play in the half. OBU then took their biggest lead of the half at eight when Tyler Ryan drained a trey to put OBU up 26-18.

The Stars then worked their way back into the ball game and took the lead on back-to-back threes by Franklin and Godwin to make the score 32-30 with 5:57 left in the half.

The Stars lead didn't last long as OBU answered with a Hart field goal and a Mosley three pointer. OBU held the lead at the half 43-39.

In the second half OBU held a six point lead at 51-45, but once again OCU went on a 7-0 run to take the lead at 52-51. That the was the last time the Stars led the game as Ryan ignited a 9-0 run with his third three of the night to put the Bison on top for good. OBU continued to pull away and held their biggest lead (15) twice at 77-62 and 82-67 before finally pulling of the victory.

The win puts the Bison at 12-2 on the season and 1-1 in the conference. OCU falls to 8-3 on the year and 1-1 in Sooner Athletic Conference play.

The Bison go on their longest road trip of the year starting Thursday when OBU travels to Plainview, Texas to take on Wayland Baptist. Then Saturday the Bison head to Lubbock, Texas where they will play Lubbock Christian. After the west Texas road trip the Bison come back to Oklahoma where they will play the No. 3 ranked team in the nation in Oklahoma Christian at OC and round out the road trip at Bethany against SNU.