It took a while for the fourth-ranked Bison to get cranking, but Oklahoma Baptist University won the men’s basketball season opener Friday night, 89-65, against Dallas Christian College.
“You have to start somewhere and this is where we are right now,” said OBU coach Doug Tolin. “We’ve got a long way to go and a lot of things to work on. But we did some good things, too. We need to pick it up in practice.”
OBU was an impressive 67 percent from the field but shot just over 50 percent from the free throw line. The Bison committed 25 turnovers – 14 of those unforced.
After trailing the Crusaders for most of the first seven minutes, the Bison used a 15-0 run to take a 21-13 lead with 8:54 left in the first half. Six different Bison scored in the spree, led by Tyler Parker with four points.
From there, the Crusaders only scored back-to-back baskets once as the Bison built a 44-29 halftime cushion.
Dallas Christian got as close as 10 early in the second half, but a 13-0 Bison run, fueled by eight points from Nate Brumfield, put the gameout of reach at 75-50 with 8:22 remaining.
Brumfield led the Bison with 28 points and 13 rebounds, spearheading a 40-25 OBU advantage in rebounding.
“Rebounding is effort and we put forth a lot of effort on the boards tonight,” Tolin said.
Brumfield also had a team-best three steals on the night.
A.J. Hawkins scored 17 points and added a team-high four assists in his OBU debut. Tim Bowman added 13 points and Emmanuel Wilson came off the bench for 10.
Now 1-0, the Bison host East Central in an exhibition game Monday night at 7.
