Men Fall in Second Round

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Oklahoma Baptist University’s fun run came to an end Friday in the second round of the NAIA Men’s Division I Championship Tournament with an 87-75 loss to fifth-seeded Georgetown College.

The Tigers, who had been 0-2 against OBU in NAIA Tournament games, overcame a one-point halftime deficit to gain the victory.

The first half battle ended with a three-pointer by Andrew Bryant to give OBU a 40-39 lead at intermission. Prior to that, however, OBU had been forced to scrap for points against a physical defense and a rash of offensive fouls. Frank Benson, the hero of the opener, saw only six minutes of action in the first half in foul trouble.

The game stayed close until Georgetown kept up the intensity offensively and kept the Bison at bay.

“Around the 14 minute mark we hit a tough little stretch where we couldn’t put enough pressure on them to make them crack,” said Bison coach Doug Tolin. “That’s more to their credit than to our discredit. Georgetown is a very good team and the probably even exceeded by expectations a little. I think that’s what we have to do right now, just give them the credit.”

Georgetown led by as many as 15 points late in the game before Robert Hart scored the final three-pointer of his career. Hart went over the 1000-Point mark in his OBU career and ended with 17 on Friday and 1007 for his career.

The Bison loss ended an improbable run that started after a loss at John Brown University. Needing a win in the last week to qualify for the Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament. The next five wins placed OBU in the NAIA Tournament, where they made it to the Sweet 16.

“About three weeks ago I thought we were doing some real damage to the name of OBU Basketball, but these guys really worked hard and we did some good things,” said Tolin.

Leonard Mosley and Justin Benson led OBU with 20 points with Benson going a remarkable 10-for-10 at the free throw line. Mosley finished his career 1170 points. OBU’s only other senior was Academic All-American Kyle Griffiths.

“Those guys are going to be hard to replace,” Tolin said. “We’ll have to have some guys step up and find some guys to step in.”